tfj 





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El rJtOF. E. S, CLEVENGER 



PublLshud by Missruri Keivnel Club 

Excelsior Sprini^s, Missouri 

1925 



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(iJ) CI A 86 4,06 7 



AUG - 1 1925 






^'"P'^Sht 1925 By Prof. E. S. Qeveng^r 
iU lilghts Reserved 



THE sportsman's HUIDE 



HOUNDS FOR SALE! 

Thoroughbred liounds, trained or untrained, 
for sale at reasonable prices. Pups for sale at 
all times. Address 

THE MISSOURI KENNEL CLUB, 
R. R. 2 Excelsior Springs, Missouri 



SINGLE COMB WHITE LEGHORNS! 

We have the best strain of thoroughbred 
Single Comb White Leghorn chickens, cockerels 
and eggs for sale. Address 
EXCELSIOR SPRINGS POULTRY FARM, 
R. R. 2 Excelsior Springs, Missouri 



THOROUGHBRED ITALIAN QUEENS 

I breed only the bright Italian Queens than 
which there are none better. Be sure to get our 
delivered prices. Ship on the day you name. 
No disease. Ship only the best. You to be 
pleased in every way or your money back. 
Satisfaction and safe delivery. Address 

ERIE S. CLEVENGER, 
R. R. 2 Missouri 



THE sportsman's GxnoE 3 

INTRODUCTION 

Til is book endeavors to show the methods 
of discerning the trutli. in that which the mind 
receives wisdom from nature. The influence 
of human environment, education and language 
upon that which the mind imparts. The influ- 
ence uix)n religion of the inspirational or sug- 
gestive and of the literal or dictatorial, hunting 
and trapping for all kinds of wild animals or 
fishing or camping out or for taking recreation 
in life. It addresses the peoples' mind with 
good taste and appreciation of the finest in 
good health' and reading. Wholesome wisdom 
and a love of clean fun. It feeds the iiuman 
spirit with reverence, loyalty, honor, purity, 
high ideals and the fundamentals of character 
that make up the sum of a finer and happier 
manhood and womanhood on earth. It is a 
fine and touching book and those who read it 
cannot fail to understand the better methods of 
hunting, trapping and fishing and to resopnd 
more heartily to the unspoken appeal of those 
who have come among us deaf to our language, 
•blind to our book and ignorant of our way f>f 
living. It is an authoritative, practical and 
highly enlightening guide to people bothered 
with wild animals or hawks. Read this book 
and then set a trap and catch any kind of wild 
animals. Tlie l;>ook will tell you just what to 
do and how to set your traps right. It is 
written especially for the sports^man in clear, 
nontechnical language, which briefly and fasci- 
natingly reveals to you all of the mysteries of 
outdoor life and penetrates the wondeiiand with 
stories of wild animal hunting in the wilderness- 
It is the greatest and best book of its kind 
ever printed in the world to teach anyone to 
trap wolves or any otlier kind of wild animals 
and if you ever hunt or trap or fish you must 



4 THE sportsman's GUIDE 

have a copy of this book, for it tells everything 
in the sciences that we find Jn outdoor life. It 
is dedicated to the universal humanities, a sea- 
son of love and charity, of gentle thoughts and 
tender greetings of peace and goodwill to the 
thousands of people who are interested in one 
of the greatest powers in the world, which is 
to kill predatory animals, so the stockman can 
raise more lambs, pigs, calves and poultry to 
help feed the people. 

The sportsman has attained a distinction 
and won a substantial appreciation which no 
other person has so fully and widely enjoyed 
among the enlightened people of the world. 
From Great Britain its dissemination has ex- 
tended to the continents, to Australia, to South 
Africa, to South America, Mexico and the West 
Indies, while they have almost a monopoly of 
the importation of North America in chasing 
the fox and in helping to kill wild predatory 
animals. 

During the past ten years they have risen 
with notable rapidity in public esteem, until 
they now hold firmly and safely a place as one 
of the best of all known men in America. They 
are much liked by farmers particularly in the 
hills and by stockmen on the plains. 

How well all these expectations have been 
realized, will be seen by the following pages, 
which combine all these features, in a conven- 
ient shape for ready reference in cases of 
emergency, from men of practical experience, 
excelling anything of this kind ever before pub- 
lished and to be found in no other work. Theory 
has been sacrificed where it clashed with actual 
tested experience and preference has been given 
to those methods which are common, often on 
hand or easy to procure and realize its value. 

It is my firm belief that AJmerica is in a 
position to take the lead in this direction. 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 5 

There is already much camping-, hunting, 
trapping, fishing, canoeing, hilling, motoring, 
golfing, fox chasing and racoon hunting by in- 
dividuals and there are hundreds of clubs de- 
voted to variolas outdoor activities. 

1 have met some of the wide world expe- 
rience in hunting and trapping as far north as 
wild animals can live and as far south to the 
end of living aniimals. 

Remember there is no other book like this 
printed, for all kinds of persons who want to 
spend a few days outing. Tell everybody about 
it. If they want to hunt or trap tell them to 
get a copy. The practical experience of scientific 
trapping has not heretofore been done in books 
on this subject. But few of the books published 
were practical. The heavy expense to the trap- 
per for the small amount of information that 
rhey would get from the book. 

We are now recognized among the fore- 
most authorities on the hunting and trapping 
of all kinds of wild animals in the world. 

From the beginning with a few drops of 
urine from the kind of wild animal you want 
to catch, just put out a trap, set right where 
the animal is and a catch is sure, if you put 
the bait in the right place. If I had known this 
twentyfive years ago. I could have been rich 
now. 

-, "Whereas the gi'eat supreme ruler of the 
universe has in His wisdom permitted to be 
born among us one of our worthy and esteemed 
fellow sportsman, Erie S. Clevenger, and 

"Whereas the long and intimate relations 
held with him in the faithful discharge of his 
duties in hunting and trapping all kinds of 
wild animals, make it eminently befitting that 
we record our appreciation of him forever for 
giving us the right methods of catching all 
kinds of wild animals." 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 



GUIDE TO NATURE HUNTING, TRAPPING 
AND FISHING 

The book with all the things have awaken- 
ed your amibition, which open your eyes to 
make you believe in yourself and may make a 
very large impression on the mind and will of 
people. Simple and direct methods put into 
operation by the persons themselves are the 
only real sources for killing predatory animals, 
for this is the boldest and most debatable of, 
the drastic remedies that have been urged to 
cure the ills of the farmers in general and the 
four largest farm organizations in the country 
have declared themselves for it and said "Let 
the farmers do their own catching and killing 
of predatory animals." 

We get' so many letters frojm persons who 
want the predatory animals killed. You all 
know that we cannot get men to catch wild 
predatory animals without money to pay for 
their time and trouble and Iskill. So we had 
this book printed for that purpose so the farm- 
ers could do their own catching and killing of 
all kinds of wild animals that were destroying 
their propeity or their neighbor's property. 

The whole matter being worldwide in its 
scope, dolmands such handling. The object to 
be secured should therefore 'be to promulgate a 
national policy in helping to kill all kinds of 
wild animals, which should not merely coordi- 
nate under f]ederal guidance all activities in 
behalf of outdoor recreation and learning how 
to hunt and trap all kinds of wild animals but 
also formulate a program to serve as a guide 
for future action without calling upon us. 

By combining and applying all the science 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 7 

of hunting and trapping of the whole world 
together and putting in this book for everybody 
to read who wants to learn the business of 
hunting and trapping all kinds of wild animals 
and fowls. 

The positive statefments of fact in the 
following pages are for the benefit of those 
wh-o are willing to consider the subject with an 
open mind and sincere desire to know the truth. 

Let us put you in touch with reliable 
sources of information concerning the raising 
of beef, sheep, swine, horses and poultry. 

Science is knowledge systematized and ar- 
ranged. It is true that the practice of a great 
many people is reducible to no system and that 
the haphazard methods th^y practice produce 
no good results. But this does not prove any- 
thing against the existence of science. It mere- 
ly shows the existence of such a science and 
that it needs to 'be more widely taught. Science 
is knowledge. So an art is defined by a high 
authority as the "application of knowledge or 
power to practical purposes." 

Invention consists merely in observing 
things closely, analyzing what one sees and 
then using one's general knowkdge and expe- 
rience in effecting correction or improvement. 
An inventor is invariably a close observer and 
a thcroug^h student not only of the item of 
particular interest, but of all related subjects. 
JSuch a one could hardly work with any ill de- 
veloped process or industry without seeing ways 
where betterment could be effected. 

This guide will recommend itself to all who 
desire a complete rule and full information as 
to methods of hunting and trapping all kinds 
of wild animals. It contains all that is prac- 
tical and valuable in the compendium and all 
other kind of books that are printed about 
hunting and trapping of like character. It is 



8 THE SPORTSMAN'S GUIDE 

a complete guide for hunting and trapping all 
kinds of wild animals that live on earth or in 
the water. 

Gentlemen, I want to tell you what has 
happened to the people of America and else- 
where. The predatory animals are catching 
and killing part of the lambs, pigs and poultry 
that the farmers and stockmen are tiying to 
raise to help feed the people and keep them 
from starving. 

I am going to tell them and show thetm 
how all kinds of wild animals can be caught 
in traps or shtot so it will increase our meat 
supply and help to feed the public and home 
folks. 

There never was in the histoiy of this 
country such a scarcity of hunters and trappers 
of predatory animals as there is today. What 
is the matter? I will tell you. 

I am absolutely sincere when I say that I 
do not believe there is an equal in hunting or 
trapping all kinds of wild animals withi a gen- 
uine or guaranteed proof. 

A very large book could be written on the 
subject, but my space is limited and I will have 
to select the most important things and handle 
them very briefly. 

I will try and give as clearly as possible 
the methods and observations of some twenty- 
five years experience in this line and the true 
science of hunting and trapping all kinds of 
wild animals and fowls. 

From my boytlood I have 'been a hunter 
and trapper and sometimes I use poison to 
kill wild predatory animals that I fail to catch 
in my trap or shoot, but I never use poison 
unless the wild animal is doing great damage 
to livestock and endangers the lives of the 
children of the neighborhood. 

There are no graduated animal hunters 



TBI SraitTSMAN'S GUIDI 9 

and trappers, except those ^aduated from the 
long and hard school of experience, and it takes 
many years to become a national expert and 
one of consequence in hunting- and trapping. 
For you have no need to experiment with hunt- 
ing and trapping, for it has been done by others 
thousands of times, the best preserved and the 
failures cast aside. 

I will tell you their habits, haun^ts, rela- 
tivity, theii- interesting peculiarities or Instincts 
concerning mandred, mating, monogamy, poly- 
gamy and besides I will trace their ancestry, 
step by step, of methods of our animals of 
today back to the eocene period. 

I will tell you how and show you how you 
can be an expert in hunting and trapping, if 
you will do your best and do the way I tell 
you to set your trap and fix your bait. This 
is_ all you nave to learn to trap all kinds of 
wild ani>mals and become an expert. 

A guide for hunting and trapping, as 
vision of an expert in this line of worlr and 
f<ir the purpose of increasing your catch of 
furliearing animals. Say, you want fur and 
you want to catch the most animals possible 
with your line of traps and here is where I 
am going to tell you that there is nothing in 
its pro.gress that is so readily received and 
using this 'book is going to help you get results 
from the science of hunting and trapping or 
poisoning all kind, of wild animals. 

Now. the first pointer I am going to give 
you, is that there are obstacles in the use of 
the science of hunting and trapping. 

Business is only a ga^ne. We study the 
move of the other man as much as our' own. 
We know when we fail that our move was 
wrong, so the next time we make the move as 
the other man did, 'because he was successful. 
It IS the love of the game that makes U6 



10 THE sportsman's GUIDE 

expert. If we had no interest in it, no power 
on earth could make us winners. 

Your first trap is the encoura^eiment that 
awakens interest. Until you feel that sentiment 
taking- stronj? hold upon you^, you are far from 
the starting point. Get interested and then 
j^our success will come sure and fast. 

Do not expect and look for an easy job. 
The easj^ job kill more men than all the wars 
of the last century. The easy jobs are at the 
last and not at tbe beg:inning of a man's life. 

If your job is easy at the start you will 
find many !men with many minds and end with 
the thoug^ht that the pleasures ancl picturesque- 
liess of life are enhanced by the use of the 
thoroughbred, unapproached in his sphere, by 
those sportsmen, all too fc\w, who have the 
spirit and gameness to handle the thorough- 
bred as a hunter and trapper. The thorough- 
bred hunters may be left in the field where 
they belong and where they give the best 
sport and de*vek)p the best of sportsmen. 

In fact it is always these particles of in- 
formation picked up here and there that fur- 
nish the necessary arguments as a means of 
creating in you hunting and trapping interest 
and desire. Any person who fails to thorough- 
ly equip htmself and study requirements and 
conditions must fail at this work, as he would" 
fail at anything else, unless he first realized 
the importance of fitting himself as a means 
of success. 

There is no pleasure in any business, ex- 
cept you play to win or become an expert. 

The difference between a dog and wolf is 
as much as there is between a dog and a fox, 
for all wild animals have an instinct of their 
own, as the dogs or wolves, or wildcats, or lynx, 
or lions, or tigers or panthers, foxes or bears 
are great hunters and often when they have 



THE sportsman's GUIDE llg 

more meat than they can eat after killing some i 
animal, tliey will dig a hole and put m the 
ground all of the animal or fowl they did not 
eat and when the hole is dug and the meat is 
put in they will cover it with fine dirt or leaves 
and put dry grass all over the dirt so no other 
animal can find the buried meat. 

The dog has not the same habits as the 
wolf or covote, but lias the sa>ne instinct in 
knowing how to tell each other apart by their 
smell and the kind of animal, whether it is a 
male or female. 

I have heard old wolf and coyote hunters 
and trappers say that w^olveg, coyotes and dogs 
have the same nature but this is not true, 
for the Creator of all things is usually present, 
but wliere such faculties are not available, 
nature has to be called upon to remedy the 
deficiencv, for nature fixed the difference )>e- 
tween all animals and humans and every livmg ^ 
thing that it shall bring forth of its own kind. ■, 
For in the wild stage of all wild ani|mals you ; 
will leara for yourself by study and experience' 
that all things are made and bred after its own . 
kind and there is no wild animal that lives on 
earth or in the water today or ever lived in this^. 
world that will mix or crossbreed or inbreed.; 
with an animal of a different breed, without ^ 
the aid of man and this is the truth, in accord-" 
ance with the true law of nature and you will.i 
find that all hunters and trappers who follow^ 
this for a living or trade will tell you that theyj' 
know all about it or that no one knows any; 
more than they do, or know it all. But you^! 
will find animals that have been caught several ! 
times and got out of the traiT, that they will.'^ 
get wise to the? trap, so you ask an oldtilme 
hunter and trapper to tell you just what to do 
or how to fLX your trap to catch this veryt 
animal and have everything right to catch any| 






32 THE sportsman's- guide 

animal at all times, must know something about 
the nature of all kinds of wild animals. 

You may find one hunter or trapper out of 
500 who can tell you v4iat to do and never fail. 
All you have to do is to^ set your trap so the 
wolf does not know that you have 'heen around 
or have a trap set and when all smell ard- scent 
of you and your trap leave, then you will 
catch and not before. Solme wild animals have 
an instinct so strong and accurate that an 
ordinary man or person cannot catch one of 
these cunning animals. All persons are different 
and so are all wild animals. By this you will 
see that you must learn for yourself. . 

This book is the only guide to give you an 
idea as to how you 'must go about it to catch 
all kinds of wild animals and do the work right, 
if you expect to catch, for this book will tell 
you how to begin to liunt and trap -in the 
rig*ht way to catch all kinds of wild animals. 

A bachelor walked up to me and asked 
"Are you an expert?" I said "Yes." ''Then 
tell me how to catch these fast women !" I 
said "just wait until the right man comes along 
and then he will show you how easy it is done, 
for when the right p-f^rson comes around that 
knows something, it seems that everything is 
easy for hi|m, for it looks that way." And so 
you look, for the higher the" preson soars the 
lower they light. It does not pay to try to do 
somefhing that you cannot be interested in. 

A close study of the habits of furbearing 
animals may be made by taking a few traps 
along rivers and streams banks and in pastures 
and on the ridges, looking for animal tracks 
and signs of furbearing animals and net the 
hunter and trapper much valuable information 
as to where to set the traps. 

I aim recommendnig this to my friends and 
those who are troubled with predatory animals 



THE SPOKTSMAN'S GUIDE 13 

eating and killing tlieir lam'bs, pigs and poultry 
which tliey are trying to raise to sell so the 
people can liave something to eat. , 

If this is your prediciiment do not imagine 
that it was "foreordained" or "inevitable," or 
anything of that sort. There are unscrupulous 
people' in every line of trade and profession 
you can name, so it is no wonder that we have 
some of til is class in the hunting and trapping 
business. You cannot play the game, but the 
other person, who has put in time and study 
can become an expert in hunting and trapping- 
wolves, coyotes and foxes and while you are 
hunting and trapping for them, you will catch 
all other kind of wild animals. The same set 
catches all kinds of wild animals, but in differ- 
ent locahties, such as along streams, hollows 
and then on ridges and mountains, for there is 
a difference in animals, as so^e live in the 
water and others on the land. 

Trapping in itself is an art. Many of the 
wild creatures are exceedingly wary and the 
boy, man cr woman, who wants to get furs 
must match liis or her reason against the in- 
stinct and natural wariness and knowledge of 
the animal. Naturally, the more one knows of 
the habits of the animals he is trying to trap,' 
the more successful he can be. Such intelli- 
gent ani^nals as the fox and wolf frequently 
prove a match for the most expert trappers, 
but you can get them, if you have patience and 
are careful in your work. 

So one of the first things to remember is 
not to touch the trap with your^ hand or leave 
any human scent around the traps and never 
leave any sign or disturbance to cause the wild 
animals to be cautious or suspicious when he 
goes around tlie trap you have set for the 
animal. 

Although it may take a httle time, still 



14 THE SPORTSMAN'S GVTOB, 

it is time well spent. What you will want to 
know is never handle traps with 'bare hands 
or cairy them upon your shoulder, unless 
they be in a sack. 

"And the fear of you and the dread of 
yfou shall be upon every beast of the earth and 
upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth 
upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the 
sea, into your hand are they delivered," if you 
use our method of, scientific hunting and trap- 
ping of all kinds of living things or predatory 
or furbearing animals or fowls of the air, or 
fishes of the water. 

A new man cannot hope to learn every- 
thing in scientific hunting and trapping in a 
few days, but you can select some one animal 
as a speciality and learn everything possible 
a)>out it to start with. When you have thor- 
oughl}^ learned it, then select another animal 
and so on through the list. It will surprise 
you how soon you can master the details of the 
/business, if you take it up systematically, sub- 
ject by subject, as we have suggested. 

Their progress is slow— but certain — and 
few there are, young or middleaged or old, that 
escape them of the pleasure of this world and 
going to the grave without having some recog- 
nition in this old life. 

Can ycu afl'ord to continue physically be- 
low par — to see your earning capacity and 
usefulness diminish with your health and tlie 
comforts of body and mind go froim you with 
advancing years? 

"For you will be delivered to life in a 
world where, at the worst, no horror is now 
incredible, no folly unthinkable, ' no adventure 
inconceivable. At the best, you will have to 
deal and be dealt with by communities impa- 
tient of nature, idolatrous of mechanisms and 
sick of selflove to the point, almost of doubt- 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 15 

ing their own perfections, in a world liereafter, 
or for a few clays outing, for America is a 
country of outdoors. It has the mountains, the 
lakes, the livers, all the ^wondrous diversified 
beauties of landscape, or air and sky and land. 

In northern Arizona, south of Adamanna 
on the Santa Fe railroad, is the Petrified 
national forest, one of the greatest natural 
wonders of America. 

There are twentynine national forest re- 
serves in the United States ol" America -for 
people to camp in or take an outing or recrea- 
tion. 

Today Tiien, women and little children in 
every walk of life, bankers, lawyers, doctors, 
merchants, farmers, laborers, druggists, news- 
paper men, manufacturers, rich and poor, from 
every conceivable vocation express daily, scat- 
tered over fortyfour states, Canada, Alaska, 
Australia and in foreign countries, who have 
found health as a result of outdoor life through- 
out the world. In every community are literally 
thousands of persons going down to invalidism 
and untimely graves as a result of the depreda- 
tions of their vital forces and yet not to ex- 
ceed in tlds whole United States liave been 
established for, or made any noteworthy success 
of restoring health to these afflicted people who 
should spend a few days out of doors each year 
— leave winter behind, leave your workaday 
self and your cires and your social obligations. 

The very atmosphere from the first day 
to the last you are assured of the supreme 
sei-vice that is the result of iifty years' 
of experience. ^ 

It's delightful to cheat the chill winds and 
escape to the sunwarmed gardens of the eaith! 

Come out with your family this sumhier 
and forget dull care, the heat and the sameness. 

You can get right into these friendly 



Ig THE sportsman's GUIDE 

mountains and know them. - You can answer 
their soulstirrmg appeal. 

And best of all you can enjoy this wonder- 
ful vacationland as you wish — do as you please, 
when you please. Feel the zest and thrill of 
the snow peaks and glaciers, the mystery of 
the caves and canyons, the lure of the big 
open spaces. Wind through the great evergreen 
forests, camp in the spots you've but dreained 
of. Fish,, hunt, chmb, explore, swim or golf as 
you care to, drive the wondiX)us scenic highways. 

Industrial, commercial and agricultural de- 
velopment should interest you, too, and perhaps 
some opportunity persuade you to remain and 
work where the living is planned just to your 
liking. There's the hdme for you! 

Love is that which makes the world go round 
and causqd the following statement: "Love is 
and ever has been one of the most powerful 
motives that rules the human mind. , In all 
history nothing has so wrung the paternal heart 
with grief as the belief that a dog and a child 
is undutiful, unworthy and unloving. Love has 
led to the greatest tragedies. It has destroyed 
cities and empires. In all ages, in song' and 
story, true love and unrequited love have 'been 
painted as the ruling passions of men and 
women. 
Life's a very funny proposition after all, 

Imagination, jealousy, hypocrisy and gall; 
Young for a day — then old and gray — 
Like the rose that buds and blooms then fades 

and falls away. 
Losing health to gain our wealth as through 

this dream we tour. 
Everything's a guess, there's nothing absolutely 

sure ; 
Battles exciting, fates we're fightmg until the 

curtain's call, 
Life's a very funny proposition after all! 



THE SKttT6MAN'S GUIDE 17 

Plains where rang"ed vast herds of shaggy 
buffalo, mountains' valleys where the wild sheep 
grazed, forest glades where deer found pastur- 
age. Such, scarce more than a lifetime back. 

The world cares nothing about what you 
don't believe— it is what you do believe that 
Cdunts. Being in touch with the Great Master 
and nature is what will give you life and set 
you going and set you free. If you feel dull, 
useless, Selfworn, sidetracked— now is your hour. 
Get busy, get a new purpose, motive, plan, idea. 
Arouse your -mind to it. Kindle your imagina- 
tion with intense- fires of entliusfasm and slip 
out into a new orbit of life's expression. You 
need a new path. You have pitched your tent 
in the desert of selfpity. Get out. take that 
old brain of yours and spread it out on, the 
threshing floor and use the flail of your will 
and then run it through the fanmill of common 
sense to blow away the chaff of everybody's 
opinion. The hour that you put positive thought 
into postitve action you are on your road to 
the goal of your infinite realities. You can 
vitalize the full stale stupidity in your real 
world with spiritual power. Drop that world 
into your mental crucible, fuse it with intense 
thought and you will have spiritual power to 
mold it as you please. 

Good health is the natural state of man- 
kind. All sickness is due to a violation of the 
laws of health. Most children are bom healthy. 
All would be, if their parents had never — 
through ignorance, indifference or carelessness 
—violated some of these rigid laws. The loss 
to the individual and to humanity, through ill- 
health, is so great as to be almost unbelievable. 

Millions of Americans go outing or gypsy- 
ing every year. Weekend trip and vacations 
of a day or two swell tlie multitude that are 
living outdoors some of the time. All of these 



18 THE sportsman's GUIDE 

are adding- to the general sum of human health, 
and happiness. 

Living outdoors becomes so seriously, 
though. The president of the United States is 
so strongly in favor of the outdoor life, for the 
poor as well as the rich, that he has appointed 
a national policy committee on outdoor life, to 
coordinate under federal guidance all activities 
in behalf of outdoor recreation and to formulate 
a program to serve as a guide for future action. 
Nor are children to be neglected in the future. 

If so, don't imagine that you are the only 
one. There are thousands of others in the 
same condition. In fact, it's a national com- 
plaint, but that doesn't help your case — you 
want to find a dependable way to set a trap and 
catch wild animals of all kinds. 

"•You cannot expect any bait to lure animals 
to a crude or carelessly set trap, but if you use 
them as directed and which is to overcome the 
human ^mell on the traps and surroundings, 
you are sure to get results. 

An old successful and experienced hunter 
and trapper designed this valuable sportsman's 
device. 

We have instant access to practically every- 
thing a man could want in sporting and outing 
or outdoor life for the hunter and trapper. 

Hunting and trapping is simple, but not as 
simple as some people would think. 

A trap should be set so that the immediate 
surroundings be left as natural as possible. 
One should first go over the surrounding terri- 
tory, locating the most premising sites for the 
trap. 

In making new programs this year, bear 
in mind and remember that it is in just these 
ways that we can do the most ultimate good 
in hunting and trapping to save some of your 
or your neghbors' lapibs or pigs or poultry or 



THE SPOBTSMAW'S GUIDE 19 

going out fishing- or just to go out camping for 
a few days for a rest and to get away from 
your daily toil or business. 

Anything that is an aid to the wide distri- 
ihution of exact knowledge is to l)e earnestly 
commended and it is by such books as this, 
books tbat are thoroughly accurate and extreme- 
ly cheap, that the average of intelligence is 
raised. The sublimest truths may as well re- 
main undiscovered as to be hidden in inaccessi- 
ble places. 

In presenting this volume, after months ot 
careful preparation, to an audience that never 
fails to recognize and reward merit, we know 
that we are furnishing a textbook to general 
culture and that never before in the history of 
bookmaking has so much that is valuable been 
obtained at so small a cost. 

Information upon game and fish subjects 
will be gladly furnished promptly upon applica- 
tion to the state gaime warden and fish com- 
missioner of each state. 

Game and fish, wild birds, also wild animals 
at all times belong to the state. The state reg- 
ulates the subject as it deems best, in any man- 
ner, not the federal law. 

Tlie United States game warden enforces 
the federal regulations, regulating migratory 
and game birds. 

Whatever you want to know and cannot 
find it in this book, look in the encyclopedia for 
exact knowledge of the anilmal you want to 
learn about and when you have learned all you 
want to know and then look in this book and 
it will tell you how to catch this very animal, 
dead or alive. 

When one glances at the shelves of a great 
library and views its array of encyclopedias in 
many bulky volumes and admirably complete, it 
would almost seem that there was nothing 



20 THE sportsman's GUIDE 

further to be accomplished in the classified ar- 
rangement of the various dapartments of know- 
ledge for the convenience in reference and with 
respect to the needs of scholars this is indeed 
true. But something less discursive is required 
by the ordinary reading public, to whom con- 
clusions are of more value than the processes 
by which the results are reached. Much that is 
elaborately discussed in the great encyclopeias 
is of value only to the special student and the 
great standard works, by reason of their very 
completeness and conseqijent high cost, are little 
adapted to the wants of the large majority. 
An encyclopedia condensed and convenient and 
at the same time full and correct, has long been 
needed. One that should furnish an abbrevia- 
tion of discussion, but ijever of fact. One 
that should be wi1:hin the reach of every one's 
purse and in a form adapted for constant refer- 
ence. In compiling this volume, fullness com- 
bined with brevity has been the essential con- 
sideration and the many subjects which it 
handles afford a view of the success achieved. 

We feel assured that there has been con- 
densed into the following pages everything that 
the greater works contain of value to the gen- 
eral public. A comparison of the number of 
its subjects with either the Encyclopedia Britan- 
nica, Appleton's or Chambers' encyclopedias will 
prove the extraordinary amount of matter con- 
tained between these covers and its concise and 
pithy text will be the very essence of those 
celebrated works. 

We confidently invite the inspection of all 
the people of this country to the within work, 
as meeting a long felt want for a book of infer- 
ence which would tell them, just what they want 
to know, in the shortest possible time, devoid 
of vague theories and bewildering technicalities 
and at the sajme time be reliable, in the treat- 



THK SPORTSMAN'S GUIDE 21 

ment given in concise and plain English, that 
it might become the farmers' complete advisor 
— that the instructions given makes the 
book the clieapest of its kind. It combines six 
books in onie, for the price of one and is a sub- 
stitute for many. 

A little outing will make you gay, 
And drive the daily cares away; 
It spreads the sunshine o'er the place, 
And biightens up your homiely face! 
And thiis is furnished by the most expert 
scientific hunting and trapping specialist in 
North America. Science has been applied to 
every kind of wild animal and the hunter and 
trapper who works scientifically has a great big- 
advantage over the fellow who follows the old 
style methods of hunting and trapping. But 
the professional hunter and trapper who de- 
pends upon his catch for his livelihood, will not 
take chances. 

The only thing you have to learn is to set 
your trap riglit and put the bait so that when 
the animal comes to smell of the 'bait the animal 
will have to cross over the trap. The bait 
must be aloout fourteen inches froim the trap, 
depending upon the size of the animal, on the 
side you think the wind will be blowing from 
when the animal comes to smell of the bait. 
If the wind is in the south, put the bait on the 
south side of the trap, and if the wind is in the 
north, put the bait on the north side of the 
trap-^r put the bait on the side you think is 
best. 

You can use anything to put the bait on, 
such as an old stump, stick, dry grass, rock, an 
old piece of wood, dry cokchip or dry horsetird. 
Be sure and don't let any human scent get on 
the thing you put the bait on, for if you do, 
you will not catch any wild animal in your 
trap. For if they simell any human scent they 



22 THE SPORTSMAN'S ' GUIDE 

will not come around your trap, for that is a 
sure thing. Keep all human smell or sign from 
your trap and around the trap. 

Rememiber an examination of wild animals 
that each kind has an odor or scent of its own 
kind and every kind of animal has a different 
scent from each other. So if you want to trap 
wolves you would use the urine of a wolf, for 
bait and if you wanted to catch some other 
animal, you would use the urine of the kind of 
animal you want to catch. The urine of animal 
catches or lures the same kind of an animal, 
such as the mink, raccoon, skunk, opossum, 
muskrat, civet cat, coyote, wolf, beaver, otter, 
wild cat, marten, fisher, bear, lynx, fox, ermine, 
mountain lion, wolverine or panther and all 
other kind of wild animals that I have not men- 
tioned. 

Bear this in mind: Do not use all urine of 
wild animals jmixed. Be sure and have each 
separated from the other to catch the kind of 
animal whose uiine you use. Never mix the 
jUrine of one kind of animal with that of another^ 
kind of animal. Have a bottle for every kind' 
of urine. 

Remember that you must keep all human 
smell or scent from the bait or urine that you 
intend to use for bait. If you get any human 
smell or scent on your bait, the wild animal 
will not come near the trap if there is any 
husman smell or scent around. Don't- let the 
urine touch your bare hands or skin. One trap- 
per caught fifty mink in one season by using 
mink urine for bait, by using scientific methods 
in setting his traps without having ahy sign 
•or smell left, after he had set his traps. 

There is one general principle in regard to 
ibaiting animals that may as w^ll be recorded 
and explained here, as it is applicable to all 
cases. 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 23 

It appeals most to men who feel that they 
can <>et best results with a bait used from 
the urine of coyoUe, for scent or smell is to be 
the best bait to lure more kinds of wild animals 
lo your trap than all other kind of bait that was 
ever used by the United States agriculture bu- 
I'eau of biological sui'vey, for they have used or 
tried all kinds of bait they ever heard of or 
heard about that would lure any animal to a 
trap or cause any wild animal to :':o around 
A\here a trap was settin. 

One hunter and trapper caught fifty foxes 
in traps in one season by using pure whisky 
for bait and by using the right method in set- 
ting his trap. I mean the way to cover your 
trap is with fine dirt and leave no human scent 
around your trap or the suiToundings. Pure 
corn whisky will not freeze in the coldest of 
weatl^pr and stay fresh for a long time, hence 
it is good to use in cold weather. 

I caught fifteen coyotes, four beavers and 
one wildcat in one night by using for bait one 
teaspoonful of ground cinnamon bark and two 
beavers castors put in one half pint of pure 
brandy and shaking well before using. By 
-keeping this fact in mind, the urine froan a 
dog is good bait. The older the dog the better 
urine and the louder it will smell. 

I went to a hotel and gtot the cham'bermaid 
to save, all the urine she could g^t from the 
female guests or the feimale human who was in 
'heat'' and gave her 50 cents a pint. This is 
good bait for wolves, wolverines, bears, pan- 
thers, lions, lynx and all other wild animals 
that will eat husman flesh. 

There is no better bait to lure bees and 
find a bee tree and to watch them go liack to 
the tree or wliere the hive is. A very old person 
has the strongest and loudest and reddest urine 
of any human and it will lure more kind of fishi 



24 THE sportsman's guide 

to your hook tlian all other scents. The next 
best is sweet anis oil for scent to go on your 
'liook. 

So it is with all other wild animals. The 
older the better the urine is for bait. You will 
learn that the kind of animals that cannot talk 
have to go by scent and will go every time 
they smell urine right up to the place where it 
is and stand and sniff and step around. That 
is the reason you must bait your trap with 
urine of some kind, for all animals lose their 
heads when they get a whiff of some urine 
from a fejmale that is in "heat," or on a spree. 
This will cause all males to come to your trap 
^and sometimes you will get a female. 

1 see by looking over all the books that 
are printed on hunting and trapipng and find 
that most of the pictures showed that persons 
setting traps are sitting down on their knees 
on the ground or sitting flat down. Th9.t is not 
the rig'ht way to set a trap, for you must stand 
on your feet ail the time and don't make too 
many tracks around your trap or signs of 
human beings and don't handle anything close 
to your trap with your bare hands. Alwaj^s 
have on a pair of gloves while you are out set- 
ting traps. The gloves must be clean and free 
from smell or odor of any kind. 

The rig-'ht way to set a trap is for you to 
stand on your feet all the time and don't lay 
down or sit down close to your trap, if you 
want to catch all kinds of wild animals. 

You must remember that for catching all 
kinds of wild animals you must put your trap 
in the ground or cover the trap with fine, dry 
dirt or sand so that nothing can see tlie trap 
or any sign of the trap. All traps must be 
covered at all times and out of sight of the 
eye of a living animal, if you would be sure of 
a catch at all times. 



THE SFOKTSMAK's GUIDE 25 



One of €ur friends said recently '*I am 
thinking- more and more of your Best Condition- 
er every year when comparing its work with 
that of others." 

With this understanding- of th(e matter, 
confidence anust l)e established as to the enter- 
prise being: genuine, laudable and respectable 
and when once that feeling becomes prominent 
with you the occupation will assume all the 
advantages of responsibility. Unless you can 
realize tliat your position carries with it all 
these qualities, it were better that you did not 
attempt it until you can say conscientiously 
that you believe all this to be right and the 
truth. 

When all is said and done — seeing is be- 
lieving. Also reputation is not what we say 
about ourselves, but what others say about us. 
Consequently we have published just a very 
few of the hundreds of statements as to our 
ability to hunt and trap wild animals. 

The road to success is wonderfully full of 
little crooks and turns and there is no "short 
cut" to the goal. 

You may have heard it said that "hunters 
and trappers are born, not made." That is not 
our theory. We believe that sportsrnen can be 
educated, just like school teachers, doctors, 
lawyers and carpenters are educated to their 
profession or trade. 

Trapping is one of the few things from 
which one can derive both pleasure and profit. 
It affords plenty of outdoor exercise and insures 
a rugged constitution in addition to being highly 
profitable. It brings people face to face with 
nature. People must make a study of nature, 
the woods, the waters and the ways of animals. 

I am pleased to say that I have taken the 
information given under this heading wihich 
has been carefully prepared. 



26 THE SPORTSMAN'S GUIDE 

As conditions in different sections vary con- 
siderably, the trapper 'must necessarily use his 
ovvn best judgment, but whether you are a be- 
ginner or a regular trapper, if you will read 
the suggestions through carefully, we believe 
you will get information that will be of consid- 
erable, value to you and help you increase your 
catch of furs. 

These methods and suggestions have been 
selected by some of the best trappers in North 
America. The different methods are made as 
brief as possible and it is not intended to be 
an exhaustive treatise of the trapper's art. 

There is 'but one sure way to combat this 
most treacherous and insidious of trapping 
and that is by keeping a true record of everj'' 
trap set and the way the trap was set and when 
the trap was set and in what kind of a place 
and what was caught in the trap, or what kind 
of animals visited the trap while it was setting 
in that place. 

After you have dug a hole just to fit the 
trap and deep enough to put the drag and chain 
under the trap and cover it up with fine dirt so 
that the scent of the trap will not be smelt 
through the fine dust, then brush over the trap 
and surroundings until • you cannot see where 
your trap is setting or any sign of the trap. 
Then put your bait about fourteen inches from 
your trap so that when the wind blows the scent 
from your bait will go over the trap that is 
hidden in the ground and when the animals 
come to smell of the bait must walk over the 
trap. Don't put fresh bait or urine at the trap 
for at least four or five days, unless it rains. 

Where your territory is practically unlim- 
ited, it is well to lay traps in a circular line, 
which enables one to set out a maximum num- 
ber of trap and travel is minimized. This is 
particularly a good idea when the trapper*s time 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 27 



is limited, as it enables one to cover several 
miles in a few hours. 

More and more wqmen each year are tak- 
ing to trapping- in their spare tiime as they can 
put a trap line out and take care of it without 
a great deal of! trou'ble and make good profits 
each, year, so they can be outdoors some of the 
time. 

Trapping furbearing animals is no longer 
a difficult problem:. It is really a very easy 
matter. It is simply a battle between a man's 
brains and the aninial's natural instinct. The 
greatest difficulty in trapping is to get the ani- 
mal to the trap, for when this has been accom- 
plished the rest is easy. Of course no one can 
catch animals where there are none. 

An animal's keenest instinct is his sense 
of smell. Deprive him of that sense and he is 
far more helpless than were he to lose both his 
sight and hearing. We are informed that tests 
made by the United States governjment's bureau 
of agTiculture biological survey have determined 
the fact that a male wolf has been attracted to 
a female wolf's urine that was in heat 
•or dogging and the water caught and put out 
for bait and the wolf caught who was twenty 
miles distant When it first smelt the urine of 
the female wolf. 

This, we believe, is an extrefrne test and 
could only be successful with the wind blowing 
in a favorable direction, yet it surely proves how 
acute is the animal's sense of smell. 

Coyote or wolf urine will lure all kinds of 
wild animals if taken from a female coyote 
several miles away, as a male coyote will come 
twenty miles and a coon will go two miles to 
smell of the. urine or a mink will come one mile 
to see what it is and will cross over the trap 
to smeU the bait and a fox will travel five milrs 
to have a whiff of the bait. So you see that the 



28 THE sportsman's guide 

right kind of bait will* do the work in hunting 
and trapping. A good bait to use to bait your 
trap with if! you want to catch all kinds of 
wild animals. 

We will assume that you ^nust believe 
these things. There must ))e no doubt about 
any of them in j^our mind. If there is, the 
first thing to do is to investigate and get your 
mind settled clearly one way or the other, for 
complete success is impossible to the representa- 
tive who lacks faith. 

The next step is to learn as much as pos- 
sible from the exa;mples of other successful 
hunters and trappers who have preceded you, 
so that you may avoid at least some of the 
obstacles which they have stumbled over and 
get the benefit of some of their bright ideas, 
for bright ideas are to be the tools with which 
you will work and you , must have at least 
some of them, if you ar6 to succeed from the 
start. 

Right here we want to inake a few sug- 
gestions that will apply, no matter what aninials 
you are trapping for. 

To begin with, care should be taken in the 
setting of the traps and all traps should be 
handled with gloves, so there will be no human 
scent on them. 

Preparing the site for a trap is another 
important step. 

There is no luck about hunting and trap- 
ping business. Vou do things ri^ht or you dot 
them wrong. The result always corresponds. 

Here you should bear in mind that fur- 
bearers are very suspicious of any change that 
is made in their accustomed haunts or the trail 
of wild anijmals. 

Many years of association with the re- 
(luirqments of the animal at large, have enabled 
us to understand and supply more successfully 



THE SPORTSMAN'S GUIDE 29 

than has been done before the need of an 
a))soliitely modem preparation for the scientific 
hunting and trapping of predatory animals and 
if you walk to your trap, don't forget that one 
trapper recommends the nailing of a board about 
a foot wide and three feet long, to the bottom 
of your shioes and fasten your shoes at the mid- 
dle of the board, one board on each foot or shoe. 
I have used a block of wood two inches thick 
and one foot square to stand on while I set my 
trap and rode a horse to keep the human scent 
off the ground at any trap and surroundings. 
I never touch anything or let my clothing 
touch anything close to where I am setting my 
traps and carry off all the dirt after I have set 
the trap and when 1 leave I fix the ground and 
suiToundings as if I had never been there or 
a trap had never been set there and put my 
bait so that when the animal comes it must 
cross over the trap to smell the bait. 

We want to be ready at all times to meet 
straiglitforward, honest competition in hunting 
and trapping predatory animals and for this 
purpose I recommend a reliable trap as impor- 
tant to the trapper as a good gun is to the 
liunter. Number three Newhouse trap with a 
chain four feet long and an iron drag fastened 
to tlie chain is the only trap that is absolutely 
reliable and dependable under all conditions. 
When you catch an animal you can go and find 
the animal or some piece of the animal. 
There is nothing that costs less than to tell the 
truth and this is yoar guide to know and begin 
Imnting and trapping in earnest. 

With this information on hand and know- 
ledge of wild animals you will be able, or will 
enable any person to become a successful hun- 
ter and trapper. If you want to catch wild 
animals the rules and methods will be found by 
reading this guide. It is the only true guide 



30 THE SPORTSMAN'S QUIDB 

to catch all kinds of wild animals. I stand for 
equal rights and justice to all persons in all 
stations in life. 

You have spent hours, perhaps days or 
weeks, months or years, trapping, hunting, 
tramping the vsi^oods and fields, splashing in 
freezing strealms and swamps, cold and tired, 
but ever anxious to do your part in gettmg 
more fur and now when the result of all your 
hard work comes in, to this book you are more 
vitally interested than in any other department,- 
for here your fur is valued and the reward for 
your labor is fixed, but it is a good way, an 
easy way and an economical way that has 
stood up under the test of years and is growing 
fevery year into wider popularity. 

I spent a good deal of the time duiing the 
summer studying the habits of wild animals 
and their individual and general characteristics, 
meeting with many disappointments as well as 
successes. But as I was never disposed to ac- 
cept adversity as bad luck or as the will of the 
Lord, I simply had to find out what caused the 
failures and study out a way to turn them into 
successes. 

If you believe from what I have written 
that I know thie hunting and trapping business 
and that this book is not a compilation of clip- 
pings, but is written from personal experience, 
then you must know that what advice I have 
given is good advice to be followed. 

Nature has a "^vay of her own in looking 
after her children. She often seems indifferent. 
The strong prey upon the weak. The death of 
some means life to others. Even those ancient 
predatory animals of Egypt must have thought 
that birds, lambs, pigs and poultry were made 
for them to catch and kill and eat. When one 
thinks how this sort of thing has gone oil age 
after age, he wonders that there are anything 



THE SPORTSMAN'S GUIDE 3X 

leit in the world. Valuable as they are, no one 
will dare say there miglit not be too many 
living- tilings on earth, lor there must be some 
way to cause the death of one means life to 
another and cause the death of the otiier. I can 
say no more. But I said that I would be orief 
and tell all the itqms uf interest with utmost 
thought. 

Now, you want to know how to put out 
poison so the posion will be eaten by all kinds 
of wild predatory animals and to learn to put 
the poison in meat and fix the meat so the wiU 
predatory animal will eat it and not taste the 
poison and will eat the poison like hot cakes by 
a hungry dog. Get some fresh beef suet and 
cut into one mch. squares and put these squares 
in boiling water until they are soft. Take 
the*m out and put the poison in the middle of 
these squares and cover tiie poison up good. 
Fix the poison in the middle of the squares so 
that you cannot see any sign of the poison. 
Tlsen lay the squares out to cool. When they 
get cold and hard fmelt some beef suet in a cup 
that ;is clean and free from smell or taste of 
any kind. Get yuu a clean, long handle spoon 
and take every one of these squares in the 
spoon and dip tiiem in the melted beef suet. 
Don't let them stay too long lor they will melt 
and let out the poison. When you have dipped 
them in the melted beef suet lay theim out to 
get cold on a clean paper, without any hiuman 
scent touching the paper. These squares can- 
not be touched now only with a spoon provided 
for tliat purpose. Never let the spoon touch 
any human flesh, for if you do the wild preda- 
tory anmials will not eat the squares. Now put 
them away until you are ready to use them. 
You can make poison bait out of hog meat and 
it makes good bait to put the poison in. You 
must know that any part of the hog will not 



32 THE sportsman's guidb 

do to put the poison in. The strip just down 
the backbone, about- four inches on either side 
you can use. Cut this meat into one inch 
squares and onefourth of an inch thick. Spht 
the piece in tine middle until you have come al- 
most to the other side, then stop and open it 
and put the poison in between the two sides and 
squeeze them together tight all around the edge. 
Then look and see if, you can see the poison. 
Be sure and have all the poison on the inside 
of the piece of meat so thtat the wild predatory 
animal will not taste the poison. Have some 
boiling water and dip these squares in and be 
quick, so that the hot water will not cause the 
squares to open. I have a wire just the size of 
the squares to hold them together, so the poison 
cannot get out while I dip them. When you 
have dipped them lay them out on some clean 
white paper to be used when you are ready to 
put out the poison. Do not let any human 
scent get on the • squares, for wild animals will 
not eat them if they have any human scent on 
thqm. Now, you are ready to poison predatory 
animals and always put enough poison on one 
piece of meat to kill any animal. Put just 
about as much poison on as you can get to lay 
on the little blade of your pocket knife. That 
is enough to kill any wild animal. Put the 
poison bait or meat where you see the wild 
animal you want to kill — at some dead animal 
lOf any kind, for wild animals are hard to poison. 
You must use every means you can think of tot 
keep away human scent from your poisoned 
meat or poison bait, or meat that you put pgison 
on the inside and see that no one comes near 
youi- poison after you have put it out. You 
must have everything clean. Use no tobacco 
lor spit on the ground. Get a clean sack with 
fresh meat and 'blood in it and ride a horse and 
drag the sack all around over the country and 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 



drop some of those i>oisoned meat pieces along 
where you drag this sack with bloody meat, or 
drag an old dead carcass to the head of a deep 
hollow and throw it in close to the bank and 
then put some pois?)n around close. This is 
a good place fior your poisoned m-eat or make 
a pile of brush on the trail of predatory animals 
and drag the sack of bloody meat around this 
brush pile and drop some of the poisoned bait 
in the path where you drag the sack and leave 
the sack on top of the brush pile, or you can 
drag the sack with tl'.ie bloody meat to some 
place and drag it in a circle and drop the poison 
bait in the path where you drag the sack and 
then lay the sack on the ground and pile brush 
on top of the sack and leave several pieces of 
poison Ijait or pieces of poison 'meat fourteen 
to twenty feet around the outside of the brush 
pile. Now, you have the waj'^ I make poison 
•bait and the way I put it out to get results. 

Now, I am going to leave this with you: 
Keep all human scent from your poison bait 
or poison meat, by using a clean spoon to 
'handle the poison meat with and ride a horse 
to put out the poison. Don't put your feet on 
the ground while you are putting out poisoned 
meat around a dead horse or dead cow or dead 
hog or dead sheep that lias been killed by a 
predatory animal. Be careful with poison and 
keep it out of the reach of children, or cats or 
dogs or chickens. 

Any. wild animal that eats this poison bait 
will live just thirty minutes — ^if it has a 
full stomach. If, the stomach is empty it will 
take effect in ten minutes and will die right 
now. Some wild animals die running or run 
until thiey fall dead and some die without a 
fit or pain, if they get to water the first thing 
afterdating the poisoned meat or poison bait. 

How to make poison so that it ^viH kill all 



34 THE sportsman's guide 

/ 
wild anijnals quick and not get far from j'-our 
poison station or where you put out the poison 
for predatory animals: Put equal parts of 
calomel and strychnine, half and half, mix well. 
This will do the work for you. It did for me. 

Crows are awful bad after poison bait and 
you should look out for them. Crows sometimes 
get your poison meat or bait. All you have to 
do to kill a crow and lay close to your poison 
bait or put your poison under a dry cowchip 
or cover it over withi dead grass or an old bone 
so the crows cannot see the pieces of meat 
lOr poison bait, for they are white and anything 
can see them a long way off. Be sure and don't 
let any human scent get on any cowchip or 
dead grass cr anything you put poison on and 
always use a spoon or ha)^ a clean pair of 
gloves on your hands when you go to put 
out poison bait. Don't let any scent of any 
kind get on your bait or any odor. 

How to use poisbn to kill such animals as 
chip monks, ground mice, jmoles, gophers and 
gToundhogs (woodchucks) or prairie dogs. 

Striped and ground squirrels may be con- 
trolled succesfuliy by the use of calcium cyanide 
or by poison bait, or by letting foxes live. 

Calcium cyanide, in the form of flakes, 
granules or dust, is perhaps the most effective. 
Locate the burrows by means of a long handled 
spoon and place about a tablespoonful of the 
flakes or granules as far down in the burrow 
as possible. Close the burrow jtvith soil or 
grass. , 

A good poison bait v/hich *may be placed in 
the burrow can be made as follows: Dissolve 
one tablespoonful of laundry starch in a half 
cup of cold water and stir in onehalf pint of 
boiling water to make a thin muscilage. Mix 
one ounce of powdered strychnine with a simi- 
lar amount of powdered bicarbonate of soda and 



f 

TH« SPOKTSMAN'S GtHDE 85 

stir the mixture into the hot starch solution 
to make a smooth papte. Stir in also onefourth 
pint of heavy corn syrup, one tablespoonful of 
glycerine and finally one scant teaspoonful of 
saccharine. Apply to twenty quarts of clean 
oats nnd mix thoroughly to coat the kernels 
evenly. 

Be sure and tell everybody that you are 
going to put out poison, so if they have any- 
thing they don't want to get the poison, they 
can take the necessary precaution and keep it 
up for if anything gets this poison it is sure 
death. There is no cure. All things that get 
this poison bait will die, except hogs. Poison 
bait will not kill a hog, but will kill all other 
kinds of wild animals. 

In hunting wild animals you must know 
that you have to boar in mind and deal with tl;e 
wild animal's keen instinct. If you get a shot 
at a wild animal of any kind you "must go slow 
and easy, looking carefully, watching to see if 
you can locate or find or get close to any wild 
animal by creeping slowly, easy, watching and 
looking carefully that you make no noise to 
frighten the wild animal so that it will not run 
off" before you can get close enough for a shot. 
Always hunt with having the wind blowing you 
in the face all the time, day or night, when 
you are looking for signs or tracks of wild 
animals, for all wild animals that roam at nigtit 
sleep in the day tiime, so you must use great care 
if you want to slip up on the wild animal and 
find it asleep and shoot it before it wakes. All 
wild animals sleep after noon. If there is snow 
then you can track them and shoot the wild 
animal right where you find it asleep, if you 
have the wind on the wild animal all the time, 
as all wild animals go mostly by smell and 
fowls go by hearing and seeing. 

I want to say right here that you must 



36 THE sportsman's guide 

look and see if your g*un is ready to shoot on a 
moment's notice or in -other words, 'be ready to 
shoot if you see anything to shoot at, by having 
the shell in the gun. 

Fox, deer, coyote and bears are easy to 
track in the snow and finding them asleep on 
some sunny hillside or where the wind does not 
blow. Always have the wind blowing you in 
the face while you are tracking wild animals. 
The only thing you have to do is to be a good 
shot to get all the wild animals you care to kill, 
if you have the wind blowing in your face all 
the time while you are out hunting, for hunt- 
ing is like everything else, you must learn how. 
There is but one right way to hunt to make you 
a successful hunter. , 

If you want to kill fowls you must learn 
to call the t^owl you want to shoot. You can 
mock some fowls so perfectly that they will 
come right up to you and then you can shoot 
as many as you want to. 

You can mock crows and- they will comis 
around you like bees after a queen. I knew one 
person who could miock crows and call them up 
and kill seventyfive in one day. 

I am an expert in calling wild turkeys up 
to ime and I have called wild ducks and geese 
up and killed them by making a blind along 
some river on sandbars close to the water. 
'' How would you like to toe able to go to 
the bottom or roots of a tree with a big coon 
in a tree that you could not climb and have 
four or five good coon hounds barking on the 
ground, dying to get hold of Mr. Coon and then 
make a noise and the coon would jump out 
right now? That is easy. All you have'to do 
is to malcjei a noise just like a coon with two or 
three dogs fighting the coon. The coon screams 
like it was the last breath was alimost gone. 
Tlie coon that is in the tree will come right 



/,; 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 37 

down right now. I have learned several coon 
liunters how to scream and make, the noise that 
IriRhtens the coon out of the tree. 

To mock a rabbit is one way to kill sereral 
kinds of wild animals and that is to climb a tree 
and have a good gun loaded and be quiet and 
go like something had caugiit a rabbit and if 
there is any wild animal close it will come un- 
der you to see what had the rabbit. Then you 
can shoot the ani(mal. Or tie out a wild female 
coyote that is in heat and climb a tree close 
to where you have the coyote and be still and 
wait for some wild animals to come up so you 
can get a shot. 

While you are out hunting always look for 
tracks and signs of wild animals and if you can 
find the signs and tracks then you will not 
have much trouble in getting to shoot them, 
lior all you have to do is to keep the wind blow- 
ing in your face all the time while you are out 
hunting and make as little noise as possible and 
keep your eyes open, watch and look all the 
time fcr wild animals. . 

If you have duck caller, or a goose caller, 
•or a turkey caller and practice until you are 
perfect, 1 tracked up foxes in the anow and 
killed six one day, finding them askep in the 
sun where it was warm and the wind did not 
blow on a cold winter day. 

Was you ever put on a stand when a pack 
of hounds were running a deer at full speed? A 
stand is a place wl;ere a person gets to kill wild 
game and the person must hide themselves 
good and bfe quiet and never move while on 
the stand, for wild game will see or hear or 
smell you. Always have the wind blowing 
you in tlie face Lrom thje way the 
game is coming. A stand is a place between 
two hills or where several hollows come togeth- 
er or wiici'o several fences cross or where low 



38 THE sportsman's guidb 

land, called lowgap, between two peaks. The 
driver can have hounds or boys or men to go 
around over the country and make noise all 
the time and to go where the persons are on 
the stands and scare the wild game through 
the stand so when the person hid can shoot 
whatever kind of game comes close. The driver 
can run deer, foxes, coyotes, turkeys and wolves 
through the stand. This is one sure way to 
g'et g^me. 

I have killed one coyote and four foxes 
on a stand myself, by using houiwls to run the 
gamp through the place where I was hid or 
where I gpt and kept still. You want to be 
sure and get where you think you can get a 
shot at some kind of game every time you go 
out driving for game. This is a good place to 
kill rabbits on a stand, if you keep quiet and 
don't make much noise to scare them off or 
frighten away the gaime. 

A really wild animal, when disturbed, ran 
like a Jeer. He put every ounce of energy into 
ihis speed and endurance. He did not give up. 
He was either subaued or completely exhausted. 
It took a fast horse to catcu a wild animal, even 
in a fairly open country. I have known wild 
animals to run until they fell dead. 

It might be just as well, after you have 
fully made up your mind to take on a deer hunt 
by having hounds to chase the rabbits around 
where you are standng. At sundown the deer 
will come out to feed in the prairie, often close 
to the road. 

now to be an expert marRsman in shoot- 
ing and to hit the spot everj^ time you shoot 
and never miss anything you shoot at. It don't 
take a steady nerve or to keep the gun still or 
to hold the gun without having it wdbble from 
one side to the other, or to let the gun go up 
and down. All you have to do is to hold the 



THE sportsman's cuide 39 

i-jun long enough on the spot to pull the trigger 
of your gun. 

Now, just practice pulling the trigger when 
you get the sights of your gun on the object 
you want to shoot. Tiiat is all you have to do 
or to learn to be an expert in shooting or in 
marksmanship. 

Hold the gun with a mind and will, so that 
when you have the sight in direct line with 
your spot or game, pull the trigger. Now don't 
wait until you let your gun wobble off your 
spot or gattne and all you have to do is to pull 
the trigoer when tho sights of the gun are in 
a direct line with the game or spot. That is all. 
Nevei- think of wobbling your gun or missing 
the spot. Just aim at the spot and when your 
sights get in line pull the trigger. Now, don't 
wait. Have 3^our gun ready to shoot at all 
times. Keep a clear mind and a level head, 
with the thougiit that you are going to kill the 
first thing that comes in sight. Study about 
the game or the spot you are gx)ing to shoot at 
and wi^en you shoot you must have in mind 
an intent to kill or hit the spot. 

How to shoot all kinds of wild animals so 
the animal will not get away from you. 

There are two ways to shoot to kill. Tho 
first one is to shoot the animal in the center 
of the animal's forehead so the bullet will go 
through the brain and into the marrow of the 
backbone. This shot kills instantly. Sometimes 
the animal never moves after you shoot. This 
is a safe place to sho<;;t to kill all kinds of wild 
or tame animals. 

The second place is to shoot through the 
shoulder blade or through the backbone with a 
highi power rifle then cut the ham string or 
throat. 

The hounds that run every day or night in 
the hunting season of each year or at a big 



40 THE SPORTSMAN'S GUIDE 

hunt of any kind, must be fed so the dog, will 
stand the running and be the gamest to the 
finish or catch the wild animal. 

The bestr food for a dog or hound that is 
hard at work to keep healthy and free from 
disease that the world has ever found out is 
two handfuls of rice and two strips of bacon 
boiled and one pint of cooked beans for eaeh 
dog or hound given at night. 

Be sure and boil good and cook done, for 
you want to know the best food to feed your 
dog or hound that all sportsmen and mail car- 
riers who use sleds with dogs hitched to them 
to go over the mountains in deep snow in the 
arctic rdgions. 

This is the kind of food that I fed my dogs 
and hounds and I found they ran faster and 
longer and stayed to the «nd of the chase, or 
finish or catch. 

This diet is found to be the only food was 
iboiled rice with a few pieces of soft bacon mixed 
and the dogs fed once a day, cooked to a pala- 
table consistency. 

Where persohs arei tr|o^bled with wild 
animals and some persons in the neighborhood 
are trying to keep you from protecting your 
property and want you tO' let wild animals de- 
stroy all the pigs and lainbs and poultry you 
are trying to raise, just tell them to stay off 
your place. This is your place and you can kill 
all the wild animals you wa:nt to on your own 
place or rented land in season. Just kill the 
wild animal while it is after your property. 
That is all you have to do to beat the law out 
of season. "■ Fox hunters must kill all the 
wild wolves and coyotes, for they will catch and 
kill or eat all kinds of wild game. The wolf 
or coyote will kill and eat all the foxes, coons, 
rabbits, quails and squirrels that they can find. 
Foxes will not stay very long in any neighbor- 



TRB sportsman's GUIVB 41 

ho^)d where there are any wolves or coyotes. 

One way to get rid of red foxes is to get 
a pair of coyotes and turn them loose in the 
neigh borhotvd and when the coyotes run off 
the foxes or kill them, all you have to do is to 
kill the coyotes and then you will not have any 
f-oxes left. If the fox hunter wants any foxes 
left to run they should get busy and help to 
catch and kill all the wolves and coyotes and 
wildcats, so the stockmen and farmers can raise 
[more lambs, pigs, calves and poultry and when 
all the wolves and coyotes are caught and kilkid 
we think the stockmen and fanners will let the 
poor foxes live. 

Foxes are the greatest hunters, catchers 
and killers of moles, gophers, chipmonks, 
ground mice, ground squirrels, snakes and rab- 
li>its. These animals destroy lots of grain, fruit 
trees and valuaP)le land by causing washes, 
gulleys and deep hollows in the middle of the 
^Hs. A female fox with a den of young ones 
is worth #1,000 to a neighborhood in catching 
moles that will take up a field of com in a 
week. Ground mice will dig out corn that has 
been planted. So mW the chip monk and 
ground squirrel. 

I went to a fox den and found dead that 
the foxes had caught, killed and carried in to 
feed the little foxes twentyfour moles, nineteen 
of the moles were females, two gophers, one 
ifetnale, six ground mice, five females and one fe- 
male ground sqiiin^el. If the fox had let these 
animals alone in five years ti'me and all the 
females had had young ones and all the young 
ones had lived, and their offspring had lived, 
there would have been 75,000 mice, 100,000 
moles, 1,500 gophers and 5iO ground squirrels. 
This was only one night's catch which kHlcd 
:i 95,000 animals. . 

Foxes oifgflilt not to be caught and killed, 



42 THE sportsman's guide 

for they do more good and skve more than all 
the rest of the wild animals put together in 
helping the farmers to raise their crops oi- 
fields of grain. 

If the fetmale fox with a den of young ones 
bother the farmer's chickens or any other 
young stock, all you have to do to move the 
fox den is to put a white flag two feet square 
at the den, or peel a ix)le ten feet long and put 
it in the den where the young foxes live and 
keep putting tins ix)le in the hole and keeping 
it up as long as the foxes are bothering 
anybody. If you -move a female and her young 
to a n&w neighborhood or cause the foxes to 
move, they will not bother any farmer until 
they hunt, catch, kill and eat all the moles, 
mice, chipmonks ' and rabbits in the neighbor- 
hood, then Tnove their den to another neighbor- 
ihood and when the foxes clean out that neigh- 
borhood they move tO' another and keep this 
up as long as the old foxes have to feea their 
young. Foxes will not eat any poultry or young 
stock if they can get anything else, and you 
see to cause them to move their young to a 
new neigihiborhood will help all around and he 
gxx>d for the fanners. 

Say, if we could get the fanners to see 
how useful the foxes would be if they could 
only live, the farmers could save the foxes from 
being killed and I don't think there is a farmer 
living that would have a fox killed for any sort 
of money value if "they knew how valuable foxes 
are to save fann produce. 

Foxes are the most useful animal on the 
farm. Why not let the foxes live? Foxes 
catch and kill and eat- enough of the other 
animals that do great damage to pay for all 
-the damage the foxes do themselves. Foxes 
do not go near a farkn house where the farmer 
keeps a dog. Foxes are easy animals to move 



THR SrORTSMAH's GUIM 43 



from one neighborhood to another. 

We think with the aid of the farmers, true 
lox hunters and sportsmen that the foxes can be 
kept on some broke« country where the tox 
hunters can go and have a fox chase with all 
the hounds runninir at full speed, wiH make 
a noise that sounds sweeter than any music 
Mian ever heai'd. 

Who will help to save all the foxes so that 
w« can run them to the full desire of each one's 
heart •? What do we get out of hf« any way.' 
Why not enjoy scjme of this world's pleasure 
while we live? So save the foxes! 

Foxes are the farmers' best friends. Many 
farms have 'been greatly damaged, if not utter- 
ly ruined, by washes which were started by 
moles and pocket g<)phers. In fact probably 
60% of the washes that have damaged or ruined 
f^rms can be traced to the ravages (»i t^-ese 
pests. Protect your foxes and the like. 90% ot 
whose food consists of moles, pocket gcrphers, 
ground squirrel and similar pests. Then you 
will have few or no washes on your farm. This 
i^ the advice of the government agricultural 
department at Washington and the assurance 
of many farmers who have received the hrst 
copies of the edition of this book. The chief 
object of the book is the enhghtenment of 
fai?mers as to the splendid service rendered 
them by foxes and the like, in destroying 
farmers' pests— enemies of agriculture. There 
is certainly need of e^lucation along this line and 
we are sure that a wide reading of this book 
will accomphsb' much among the farmers who 
are now protecting their foxes because of the 

good they do. ^ , 4. 

Windswept farins. the largest contributor 

' to the present leftlalation can submit to its 

edict for harmony's sake in the hope that the 

legislature will fintJ its head and feet. So can 



44 THE SfORTSMAN'S GUIDK 

and will all faiislg-Hted fox killers, for they are 
more devoted to the idea of a competent National 
legislature than thoy are to any protection 
system €n earth, but dearer still is held fair play 
and the square deal to secure these. They trust 
that there are enough levelheaded men in the 
present legislature, with tolerance and regard 
for the rights of all and for the greatest good 
to the greatest numbed. It is to be hoped that 
all such will cast the next majority vote taken 
in the sunlight after candfH, open debate to 
set the industry on sound business principles 
before the public and to make for prosperity, 
security and good fellowship within its ranks. 
My experience with foxes lead me to believe that 
stockmen in the United States are letting a gold- 
en opportunity slip by when they permit other 
fellows to kill theif foxes out of season. It is 
in my opinion, strictly a stockman's job and the 
big money in it should go into the farmers* 
pockiets and not inif> the pockets of hunters, 
trappe*^ and town sportsmen who pursue it 
as a vocation. 

The farmers feed and raise the foxee. 
Then wfiy should a f^f&i^r let a person kill 
young or old foxes out of season, just because 
the fox is a wild animal and can be chased with 
hounds and when the hide or fur is not worth 
anything and just because someone finds a fox 
den and then get a gun or steel trap and see 
how many they can kill? What do they get out 
of this kind of work? S®metimes they get a 
full day's work digging out a fox, just to kill 
some harmless animal and if you want to do 
what is right and just you will move the foxes. 
But who will d£> this? God knows. I don't. 
It is a shame f^t the farmer will let a person 
gt) out on their fai^ and diff out or trap out 
a fox deri or silioot out 'ox kill Some little fcwes, 
just because they can — and for no other reason 



THB SeORTSM Air's QUIOE 45 

than the meanest reason. 

No ono can do so much to preserve fame 
as the farmer. If h^ limits or reduces the 
killiHg he is helping save game and the sport 
of hunting for his children. If every farmer 
would allow^ only half as much game killed oti 
his farm the supi>ly \vx)uld inci'ease rapidly. 

But gsr»e cannot stand the slaughter now 
!.>emg made each year and increasing. It goon 
will he like the buffalo, the eastern prairie 
chicken, the ruffled gi'ous^ or pheasaiit aaad 
othftr almost extinct game. 

America'? wild fowl are in th^r last datys, 
wnJess their j^slaughter by sportsm(?n 4b very 
largely curtimed at once. Thjis is the statement 
otf a noted naturalist arid defender of wild life. 



46 THE sportsman's GUIDE 

HOW TO HUNT AND TRAP WOLVES AND 
COYOTES. 

Know all persons that the methods herein 
are the best found in print by the experience 
of the most expert hunters and trappers of 
wolves and coyotes who have ever lived in this 
world. 

Wolves and coyotes are so destructive in kill- 
ing and eating lambs, pigs, calves, poultry and 
sometimes children,, what a great Iblessing it 
would be if every person who is l>othered with 
wolves and coyotes would get a copy of this 
book and tell eveiybody about it. 

Gentlemen, right here is where I am going 
to tell you about the way you must do to trap 
wolves and coyotes by the science of the present 
day methods that must be used to successfully 
hunt and tiap wolves and coyotes. 

^ How to set a trap so that it will catch; 
every time that a wolf or coyote comes around 
your trap, for that is what a person wants to 
know. For if you cannot set a trap right, how 
do you expect to catch wild animals in a trap, 
let alone a wolf or coyote, which are the hard- 
est wild animals that lives to trap. But it is 
easy, if you do it the way I say and no other 
way will do it successfully and that is to set the 
trap in tlie right place and have the trap set 
right and covered right with fine dry dirt or 
dust and the finer and drier the dirt the better 
you can set your trap, because wild animals 
cannot smell through fme dry dirt or dust and 
when you use the fine dry dirt so the wolf or 
coyote cannot smell your ^cent or the scent of 
the trap you have set for the wolf or coyote. 

Now, you must get the outfit to use to set 
the trap and keep off the human smell or scent 
so the wild animal will come to the trap and 
not be afraid to get caught or hurt. You need 



THK sportsman's GUIDB 47 

a 'small ax or hatchet to dig a hole in the 
ground to put the trap in and a piece of cloth 
about three feet wide and five «eet long to put 
the dirt on that you dig out of the hole for the 
trap and to stand on while you are setting the 
trap. This cloth can he used to place the trap 
and lay on all the things that you use to set 
the trap with, and all the dirt you take out of 
the hole where you dig to put your trap, chain 
and drag so that nothing touches the ground. 
ffhen you need a cover to put over the 
pan of the trap so the dirt cannot get under 
the pan of the trap while you are setting the 
trap or while the trap is setting to keep the 
pan from working or let anything get under it. 
You can use almost a^y kind of old cloth that 
has laid out on the ground or weatherbeaten or 
any old ciinvass without grease or smeH or 
scent of any kind. IVLike a good cover to gp 
over the pan of the trap. The cover must be 
cut out so that the trap will work right. The 
proper way to cut out the cover is to turn the 
trap upside down on a piece of white paper and 
then take a lead pencil and mark around the 
jaws of the trap on the inside of the jaws of 
the trap and then lake a sharp knife or scissors 
and cut around the mark and cut a notch where 
the trigger goes, then turn the trap right side 
up and lay the pattern on the trap and see if 
tlie cover will go on the inside of the jaws of 
the trap and put the notch that you have cut 
in the pattern over the trigger and try the 
trigger and see if the trigger comes up without 
touching the cover, for if the trigger touches 
the cover it will sometimes throw the wild 
animal's foot out of the trap, but when you 
have the pattern cut right it will let your trap 
work right. Then you can cut out all the rest 
of your covers by this pattern. You will never 
get too many covers made, for you will need 



4d THE sportsman's GUKME 

about twentyfive covers on hand all the time, 
free from the smeU of the human scent. You 
must wash off all the dirt or smell and human 
scent from the ax, covers, cloth and the traps. 
Now, put in hot water that has sonie lye in 
the water, not very strong and ,wash your ax, 
covers to the traps and the cloth that you muai 
use to stand on or put your dirt on, or any- 
thing you use or touch that is used in setting 
a trap in this water and don't touch anything* 
with your hands. Use a stick or something to 
keep the human smell or scent from getting 
on the ax or cover or the pan of the traps or 
the cloth that you are going to put all the 
stuff on thjat you use in setting your trap with 
and the dirt you take ou^ of the hole that you 
dig to put your trap in, for wolves and coyotes 
or any other wild animal tba4; you are trapping 
for arid make the ^ter strong enough with lye 
so the lye will taj^taff the rust, grease, smell 
and humaii scent off the traps and whetti 3|i>u 
have washed them in the water with lye gocfi, 
then rinse in clear hot water two or thr^ 
times and change the water every time you 
rinse and have clear, clean hot water every 
time you rinse your traps or things you use In 
setting your traps and after you have washed 
and rinsed your outfit lay them out to dry on 
a clean, dry board to dry where they cannot 
get any scent or smell or dirt or touch any 
living animal or beast or human being. I mean 
that children must not touch anything with 
their bare hands that is used in setting traps 
with, if you want to catch wolves or coyotes 
or any other wild animals in traps. 

When dried get a clean sack or bag that 
has no smell or Imman scent about it, then i>ut 
the ax and cloth in a bag together and have a 
small box to put the covers of the traps In to 
keep them free from human scent and there 



rtmtit not be any temelS %it any kind aboat fh« 
box and be sui« not to Couch the covers with 
your b«re himda at atiy time. Then put th« 
traps in a clean weal sack or bag of flom« 
cloth! free from grease smell or scent of any- 
thing and don't let any person touch or handle 
the traps with bare hands, nor a dog, eat i?y 
<-hildreu touch the traps nor the Inaido of the 
sack where the traj>fl are and put the traps 
wliere nothing can touch them. Put the traps 
in one sack and the ax in another sack or bag 
njude for that purpose and never carry them 
Joo6e on your back nor in your bare lianda at 
any tinao. 

You must never ]tmt your traps in a hcHa 
unleBS you dig it yourself, for it you put a 
trap m where the wild animal lives, the wiM 
aninxal knows you are trying to trap or catch 
it Wild animals are not fools and they will 
leave the place. That 13 the reason so many 
persons fail to catch them. Any person can put 
a trap in a hole. But, say, wild animals are 
not such fools as you think they are. And now 
please do not bo found guiity of putting a trap 
in a hole where wild animals live to trap or 
catch them, for if you want the wild animals 
to leave, just put a trap in a hole where it lives 
and that wild animaS will leave right now. 

Say, you keep that ax and cloth separate 
that you use and carry the traps separate from 
the ax and cloth in a sack or bag that is clean 
and free from smell and odor of any kind. 

Now you are ready to learn to set a trap 
the right way to catch a wolf or coyote or all 
kinds of wild animals. There is but one true 
and right way to set a trap, but th^re are 
lots of placea where you can set; a trap "and 
catch all kinds of wild animals, but you must 
set the trapt? where th«3 wc*f and coyote runs or 
Uretj, before you can mich them, for they will 



60 '^B STOftTSAtAjfB (ittniE 

not come to j'^our trap, but you must take the 
teap to the places where the wolf and coyote 
stay and catch; wild animals of all kinds the 
right way. Then you get all of yorar outfit 
and everything- you need to set a trap the rig^ht 
way together and set the trap in camp or set 
traps at home — one several times or set several 
traps until you have learned to set a trap good. 
Now, when you go to set a trap you must have 
a pair of clean gloves. Then spread out the 
cloth where you are going to set the trap and 
get on the cloth, with your feet and stay on »the 
cloth and turn the springs of the trap on the 
side that the trigger is on and put tins side to 
the place where you are going to put the bait 
and then lay the trap in the place where you 
want to have the trap set and take a stick and 
mark out the trap and dig the hole just as big 
as the trap and have the hole same size of trap, 
no bigger or any smaller. After a little prac- 
tice you will learn to dig it just right to fit. 
Now dig your hole for the trap deep enough; so 
you will have it)om to put the chain and drag' 
in the same hole that you put the trap in. 
When you have put the drag in the hole, put 
the chain on top of the drag aijtd cover viith 
dirt or put dirt on top of the chain and drag 
until the trap will come to within one half an 
Inch of the top of the ground and then put 
dirt all over the springs and around the jaws 
of the trap on the outside of the trap and tlien 
take a stick and rake all dirt or anything you 
find under the pan and fix the dirt so that 
none will get under the trap, then put the cover 
on the trap that you have made for that pur- 
pose to keep the dirt from getting under the 
pan of the trap and then piit the cover on the 
trap over the pan. Just fix the notch, that you 
cut in the cover for the trigger so the trigger 
will eome up without touching the cover. Tlieij 



xtat BPorrsMAif'e oum 51 



^ft fine dirt all over the cover and trap until 
the place where the trap is setting is full and 
then you want about oneeighth of an inch of 
fine dirt on the cover. When you quit brushing 
over the ground where the trap is setting, put 
all the dirt you take out of the hole on this 
cloth and everythinp- you do not want left and 
carry it off over 2(H,) yards away and be sure 
not to let any dirt you dig out of the hole 
touch the ground or any of the things you use 
to set the trap with. 

Now, you want to learn to fix the ground 
so the wild animal will not see any sign of you 
or smell or any scent or ajiy disturbance of 
any kind, just leave the place as if you had 
never been there or anybody else. You can 
use dead grass for brushing over the trap and 
surroundings of the trap. Some use turkey 
wings, an old foroom or weeds to brush around 
the trap. 

Now, you set the trap justi as I have told 
3'ou. It don't make any difference in the 
animal or place. The only thing you must do 
is to keep all human scent away from your 
trap and the surroundings and set your trap 
so the animal cannot see or smell the trap. 
Have the trap well hidden and covered, but not 
too deep, for if it rains a crust will form over 
the trap eo hard that the animal cannot break 
through to thj-ow the trap and sometimes when 
it rains the ^sun shines so hot as to bake the 
top of the gmund so hard over the trap that 
the animal cannot break the crust over the pan 
of the trap and so you had better look about 
your traps after every rain and put fine dry 
dirt all aroun.i and over the trap without hav- 
ing any human scent left alx)ut your trap. 

When you have set several traps around 
home and learned to set a trap i%ht, then you 
are ready to go out to set traps and try your 



'S0 vtm mmemeAt^ smm 

luciL on wild emimalB* Be sure that yo& set 
every trap as good as ^ou cm^ for the better 
you set the trap the quicker you wiii catch. 
You vdll soon learn that you must set your 
traps right if you catch' and if you set your 
traps right and fix the sunwuhdings right and 
remove all human scent and signs from your 
traps and put the bait in the right ^ace the 
wild animal wil! come and put its foot In your 
trap every time it gets a whiff of the bait and 
I am gmng to tell you how to fix your bait so 
you cannot misg the right way to bait your 
traps* 

How to get your bait mtd what kind is best 
to use to catch wild animals of all kinds. Eacbi 
anima! has a smell of itself. Wild animals have 
a way to distinguish each, other and to know 
each other. Wild animals use scent to com- 
municate to each other or ^follow each other. 
They want each other to know when and wtefe 
they are. When a new animal comes into the 
neighborhood, each wild ani^nal will urinate on 
something in the path where they travel ami 
every time an animal comes along it will urinat© 
on the! same thing. So you see that the urin» 
of an animal will be the best bait for catching 
wild animals. 

To giet the ^Imil you have to catch the wild 
animal you want to get the bait from. WheTi 
you catch the animal tie the animaFs mouth 
tight so that it caimot bite you. -Tie its legs 
together across each other and carry it in. 

When you get in take some water in a cup 
and untie its mouth, open its mouth and pour 
all the water down its neck that you think the 
animal can hold. Then tie its mouth again 
with a stout cord or string* so the animal can- 
not pull off the cord you tie jiround the place 
whfere the water comes out. If the animal is 
a mal© Uei a cord or ^jout Effering around the 



AntumVfii penis so that it ml) not slip off, for 
K^omotimes the water gets in there so tight 
it pushes the string off the penis. If the animal 
is a female tie a cord or stoat string around 
ihe animal's vagijia or volva so tight that the 
animal cannot get the string off. Let the string 
remain on for eighteen hours before you kill 
the animal by choking to death or putting tho 
animal in a sack and drowning it. When dead 
untie the string, or cut it and have a can or 
cup and hold tho can or cup under the place 
where the water cojraea out and catcii it Bon't 
let any of the urine waste oi* spill. 

Be sure and do each animal this way to get 
the water or uriuB from the animal you want to 
Qjso for baft 

When you skin the animal cut in the tanimal 
and gjet ttie bladder and take all the water out 
of the bladder. Put the water or uiine In a 
bottle and cork it tight and keep in a cool place. 
Don't, let tlie urine freeze. 

Tlifs is the way to get the urine that you 
are going; to use for bait, from a coyote, fox» 
mijik, coon or just any other animal that you 
can get your hands on. If, you cannot do any 
better, use the urine from eb old dog, which 
will catch any animal that you want to bait 
from to start with, but as soon as you get any 
wfild animal you can get the urine from it, so 
that you can have better bait. 

Save all the urine you can from a coyote, 
for their urine makes the best bait of any wild 
animal. 1 keep a tame coyote for its urine, ao 
tihat I can have fresh bait at any time I want 
to catcha wild animals. 

Now, you have yimr bait ready to set your 
traps the right way and have the right kind 
of bait U) caixdi tho wild animals. 

Thore are «everal kinds of bait to am to 
UMich diilereut lKind«i of wild animal/^, liut tbre 



§4 THE ^ORTSMAW'S GUIME 

I 

best bait is the urine ©i" a coyote. It wiQ lure 
more kinds -of wild animals ta your trap thao 
any o^her bait. The next best 'bait is the urine 
of the animal itself or thfe urine of the same 
kind of a wild animal. Some think that two 
beaver cartors and one teaspoonj;ui of ground 
cinnamon bark in one half pint of brandy, put 
in a botfele and shake well before using is good 
bait. I have used it myself and had good lucfe 
in catching wild anijnnals. Whiskey makes good 
bai^ if it is pure old com whiskey. 

If you have a wild animal or a dog that you 
ddnt want to kill, make a crate and put the 
animjal or dog in it, so you can catch the urine. 
Th<e crate must have two posts two feet higl^ 
and two posts eighteen inches high. Nail the 
two two foot posts together eight inches apart, 
using one by four inch boards at the top and 
bottom. Nail the two eighteen ijifh. posts to- 
gether eight inches apart, with *one by four 
inch boards at the top and bottom. Th©Q use 
one by four inch boards three feet long to box 
up on the inside of the two foot posts and two 
eighteen inch posts. Then nail a piece of tinr 
on the inside so the two foot posts and the tin 
will come within a foot of the top. Fasten the 
tin at the bottom so the lower end of the tiH 
will be a foot frdm the top of the eighteen 
inch post«. Then have the top for a door. Turn 
t^e tin up at tlije l<pwer end so that when the 
arilmal urinates it"^ will run out in the same 
place into a cup that you have put under this 
place in the tin you turned up. Put the urine 
in a bottle and cork the bottle tight and keep 
it in a cellar, so the urine will cool. I have 
known urine to keep for two years and then be 
gHjod— but the fresher the better. 

Before you put the animal in the crate you 
mutii feed it all the raw meat it will eat and 
give it plenty of water— all it will drink. Rale^ 



TH-ft gOJKTSMAN*S GUXDB 65 

the door of the crate and put the animal in with 
its head at the highest end of the crate. Let 
the animal stay in the crate until it urinates— 
if it takes a week or longer. You can put any 
kind of an animal in this crate, if the crate is 
made strong enough, with a good door fastened 
on it to keep the anijmal in. 

Be sure and see that the cup is under the 
place where you; fix for the urine to run out 
or off the tin in the cup, so you can catch it 
and save all you can :£or use when you need it. 

HAWK 

The hawk family is large, comprising abouM 
-nnj varieties. 

Are you bothered with hawks? Hawks are 
easy to catch in a steel trap. All you have to 
do js to set four or five traps in a circle ai'ound 
a stake diove down in the ground with the 
traps fastened to it. Fasten the bait aJso to 
the stake, using some sort of meat, sucl^ as a 
rabbit or dead chicken tied to the stake so that 
the hawk cannot get away with the thing you 
are using for bait. Tear the bait as if a hawk 
had caught and eaten part of it. Then set the 
trap in the ground and cover the traps with 
fine diit, with a cover oyer the pan of the trap- 
Then put the traps close to the 'bait— within 
about five or six inches. Then smooth the 
ground down nice and level, as if there were 
no trap setting there. When you catch one 
hawk fix the traps just as you fixed the first 
"ne. 

This set will catch hawks, crows and owb. 
With this set I caught thirtyfive hawks in one 
day, but I had five sets of traps. Always set 
your traps easy so they will be easy to throw 
or sprin'^r- You can set a trap on a post or in 
a titifc or on an old log or close to where the 



VfSf? r.;^^ftl'l!,%iif:i 



hmmkB mi In trt^fea m 'pofeta* m: Oy- mm fi©!^ 
You tMn put yoor trap ow. mi, #M poat If r^ii' 

Another gmd. meih-od to trap ih-awkfe ns U* 
put out an old hen with ymmg cMeken« ahoiEt 
200 yards from youi^ howse to a wire eoop of 
wire pen t(ai fe*^ sqimre with a bighi pole In the 
groimd ar>jd with a trap on the top end of the 
pole* Have your trap set all the tlm© and fix 
the hfen and chickens so that a hawk eannot get 
any of them, for thert^ are ftCX) bin& ol; hawte 
In the world. 

A trap fehiat will catch all Mnds of wiicS 
animals alive so you can bring them home alive 
ivithout doing', the animal any harm or damagre?. 
Ail you hme to do is to find the animal in fit 
hoks or cave and thien make a wire trap with 
a funnel in one end and fasten up the other end 
so the wild animal cannot get out and put thia 
trap in the hole or cave and fix tke trap so that 
the wild animal cansiot get around or out of 
the hole or cave without, going through the traij. 
The bigger the animal the larger and strongear 
the wire must be. 

This is a good way to cysitch foxea or any- 
other wild animal. 

One weilknown sportsman got a bear by 
tracking it into a cave and put a wire trap madef 
iit number nine fencing wire, four feet high, 
doubled in the mouth of the cave smd let ft staj* 
untjil the bear came ont or starve out or get so 
hungry that it cam© out* Put feed or fresh 
meat in the trap. This trap must be made 
Just as the mnskrat chicken wire trap~^ne of 
best traps on earth for catching wild animate 
alive. After you can confine the \\?ilcl minimal ta 
a small place or in a hole or cave or m iMe 
water and use whig,^ to k^ad. the animal or &iH 
into the trap. Always keep several nice trapa 
(m haxid at all timea to put iia hioi&m m ^ vmt 



fill ojE gw<v,{, mme i» ^med hy mmn himtei'a 
aiui trappiOB mid raix^vJl with ,>etjual m^rts of 
igood whi3k©.v irjrtkeB a s^ckkI trail »co,t\f. and iSah 
and fi*ii worm^y- 3;:«;t. in a ja? and with a light. 
lid ab*3ttt two mo.otJ(8 iUoi'Di^'j you intiead ifx 
lisa for scent ia gtJ^Ki luiit; j>>i" moiks- 

Oil of AWiMit aai&o is %lflo i3*ged by !»om« 
ilitjnters and tmppeirs f^f .•..,.,.r,(: <.-, iin.v, .j^nri 
aaiitmis to their trnpB^ 

,^-~<iQn't carry you.r traps ^nly m « ckim .^ack aU 
the time, free imrci riisfc *>r ;i^re»^e or aineU ^nd 
it migbt pay tc> wAsh your tmpa In strong .iyt) 
water once a inontli, if it muia much, for trapa 
«et rusty l» tli« water md .strong !y« will take 
off ruflt. Never greiaee % trap, but rmso your 
trap well and m^mr kt aiiy huuiis^n twjcut g«l 
on your trai>« and li? it. fhyea, yoij go now and 
wash them in Btrong lye wni^r «iiid by setting 
your traps you can ©eo in a few fiiiy.:J whether 
you have set your trap right and free from 
ihjoman scent arotind r,he trap. 

I don't see why persons that have wild 
animalft on their places don't h^iy thia i?uide and 
stop persons from h'mting and Snipping or 
runniuj; through their f^Jacen ?> ag gatct^ 

open and tearing ii<mn thejr fi d travel- 

ing all over their farniij and steaimg something* 
/or tills ^ide will tell you all you need to know 
to cateh all kinds of animali^ from .a rat to m^ 
leJephanf. ThjC only thing yow have to ch»r>go 
i« the l>ait» 

Why not, c&ijch the wild animals and Jiavo 
ail tJie fur and ifxmnty for yourself? Beai<lert 
you are not l)Otfaerc^ with anylK)dy for yoa 
havQ to fe<d the wild aajiriafe «ny v - » * »• 
why !\ol; get the pay? 

In trapping j-hmjj «in-e^' ' ; 

I'imr trap in tln^ t)<^i»iii) <i^i-. '.^ 



gg 'Mas ^POitmuAn'^ guide 

leaving something' alpng the patli for thesa to 
eat. Salt is good deer bait. 

You can catch wild turkeys by tying a ear 
of com to stake and setting four or five txaps 
well hidden in the ground, about fourteen inch^ 
from the stake or bait. 

Wild ducks can be caught by setting five 
or six traps around a take drove in th£ gi*otJR(i 
to fasten the traps to and scattering some crack- 
ed corn in th"e middle of the trapg, if you put 
your traps where the ducks light or stay or feed 
on some sandbar. You may set a few traps ixi 
the water close to the shore and pour d(wm 
some cracked com. Do not get the corn en wie 
trap^. The only thing yoji have tq do is to put 
th© traps where the thiing is tliat you wast to 
catch aiid set the trap* so that the ducks essrtc**fe 
get the com without getting into the traps. 

Watoli; closely after you h^ve set your traj> 
close to lt» haujits or where it livQs, after j(m 
have learned how tq set' you* trf^s right with. 
a number three Newhouse steel trap which .1 
know that every genuine huntei- and trapper 
will appreciate. 

For bait, keep a pet coyote. You leed it 
raw meat all the time, for the urine is better. 

When you are trapping in win,ter time and 
raiia and freezing, dig a liole in the ground two 
feet square and a foot deep and fill with dry dirt» 
if you have to carry it two or three miles and 
set your trap in the middle of it. Sand is good. 
After you have set your trap, you want to '^x 
the ground and l^ve the trap so hidden that 
all the surKoundingfs will be left looking a^^ nat- 
ural as ix)ssible, as if you had never been there 
or saw the place. Smooth the ground and feave 
th|e trap so hidden that you will have to leave 
a marker to find the trap. I set a trap orsce in 
a man's horse lot so good that the man and liis 
Wife hunted two hours for the trap, just ta ee© 



jt^k^^i))*^ ^ 



f IBM sroKTsuAN's ounffi: 5^ 

how I set the trap, and they could not find the 
tnip and wanted mo to show them, 

I said ""jjrait until tomoiq^ow morning and 
you will fiod the trap fastened to the foot of 
a coyote." 

I don't think that I ever saw a bigger coyoto 
in rcy life than the one I caught that ni.^ht. 
The wife got ltd very early next morning to 
see if I had told a lie. I said "you have to set 
a trap 31b that nothing on earbh can find it with- 
out getting caug'ht." So you see that the trap 
was well hidden and the bart put on the side 
that when the '^^nd blows that the s«cent from 
the bait ^o«6 o^^er the tra^. Then you catci:; 
a wild animal every time. Visit th« trap you 
have set often. 

1 will tell you how I set the trap that 
caught thie big coyote^ It was set under dry 
cowchdp. I just raised it up and dug my hole 
and fixed my trap right and let the cowchip 
down just as if tl^* cowchip had never been 
moved and put my bait or coyote urine on on» 
edge of t^e cowchip. 

4^In making water sets or setting trajw in 
the wat^ with afll signs of the trap and signs 
of the trapper co\i»red up o^f washed out before 
the trapper leaves the place where the trap is 
set. You must stand in tlio water while you 
set your traps or in a lK>at. Don't toach any- 
thing on th,e bank or let the boat make any 
signs. If you wade out in the water, don't go 
on the bank or out of the water in 10() yards of, 
your iTap at no time. Alw^s have something 
heavy tied to your trap and put it in the water 
about two inches below the surface. Never 
leave any part of your trap out oj the water 
or any part of the drag or chain — all things 
must be 'below the surface at all times, so th© 
animal will dix)wn and cannot get to land so it 
couki bite its foot of¥ and get away. 



t(m aan km^i Uie ■imii^. of wild eufiriais &» 
hm.g: m< ytm. -^-mt to,, if. y(m will cork it up tight 
furid keep it. in a coo? place or put it in the 
^j:?x>iiiiid two or liiijrefi :fe«t» or Ixilow freejting^ 
Ail that' yotji Imve: to do to keep the uriio© of: 
wild ajiinml® Is te eork it tiglit aad keep It 
where, it has ibe same temperatJire. «'JI tiie tome. 
I have feept tbe urine, ol wild animals by ttiis 
method ilor five yeai-a I put it m tbe gTound 
thi^e feftt de4"> ■where it had tiie game tjempera- 
ttire« Always have it corked tight so that no 
nir or water caji get into where the urine is. 
TImt is th« way ycwi. miisfe do to keep th^ urine 
of mlfi ammuls,. ■ s 

WOLF: ANB COYOTE 

Tim Jarger^ gmy wolf lives In the moim- 
Uiiiioas" resgioBS and in the pine woods ot the 
far norths. 

The pfalrie woK am.d eoyote. are osufiUi^ 
found in the open, country. 

The black wolf is not very plentiful 

The red wolf inhabits the. southern gtates. 

Thie woJf 01* coyote is very suspicious anxi 
thei trapper must use cax^ in order to.be sue- 
e.essful» but if you wilJ take the tlm.e and pa- 
lience to do It, you can trap iany wo]f or coyote. 

All tmps set for a woif must ho carefully 
concealed. liOWfir the tjrap so that it may be 
m&^y covered with dus^t or fee dry dirt. Every 
precauticp must be i&ken to destroy the hmnari 

JJwayg' bear' io. :mind that ihfe woJf can 
follow the ,«^ent of a ;h,uman. being iljetteir than, 
any other anlinal and seMom goes near a place 
where a iiiajti has recently b<?en. On tMg ac- 
count aire must be easercised tx> destroy the 
human: scent, which can be done by the use of 
wWakey ob %\w. mkm <xf ^^%w bootd «tr shioe« 



aivd hftVlng everything yoti ase d«iia and free 
from human scont or smell of any kind and 
when 3'C>u are traveling wbare traps are to ha 
set, always cover .vour slices or t)Oot» witli oki 
8&ckB used 5i*txH:taily for such an txicaHlon, or 
wear rubbier^b<)Ots ur overshoegi and have them 
clean from smell or huTOan scent, b^ washing 
them gopd bofore you go out to S6t your trapH 
or to 8e6 if you have had anything in the traps. 
Don't handle anything; without putting on a 
cl^an pair of gloves on your hands before you 
, touch anything iiround cIosq where you aro 
goinfi:, to set a trap aiad don't spit on the 
ground and tie a rag under your nose to keep 
Uie snot from dropping on th^ ground clostJ 
to where j^ou are setting a trap. Yon cannot 
put a tnap in the ground and hide it and let 
your nose drip all around tha trap and think 
that you will catch a wolf or a oovot^. If you 
do, you will get Jfooled. 

Ev^jry trapper wbb has mailt* u »(.ady of 
t!i0 habits of the various anhnals, has observed 
that they are continually snlGBng and smelling 
wliea moving about. You have also noticed that 
all 'Jhiprs do not attract them. Quite the con- 
trary, for certain n.i*\r-M -• .rini^ Hurn mucl\ 
concern. 

jOne method i» *<• 'i<ii t% urnia n^ >.i\yi ground 
t.o fit the trap, along B cowpath near a fence or 

(jn or an old road or where you seo a coyote 

^ing a ridge close to a g^^tfi or plowed furrow 
in a big field or meadow and by putting? yxiur 
trap in a holo just to fit the trap and have a 
cover over the pan and covered with fijio dust. 
Placv* your bait about one foot away, so that 
when the c^>y«:>to goes to rfnieil of the bait or 
tu-ine of a coyote, it will have to put its foot 
on the place just over the pan and then g6t 
caui^ht In the trap th^t you have done a stcxkI 

job 4^i' *-./..;>in.' a>r Kt. Woljf. 



$% TBI SFORTMnWf'S GOBX 

Another mefthod is to flifid a badger or 
prairie dog's den, dig a hole and carefuly conceal 
the trap in the top of the mound and throw a 
deitd prairie dog about two feet in the old hole 
and fix your trap right, covered with fine dirt 
and place your 'l)ait about fourteen inches away 
on a dry cowchip and you can use coyote jurine 
or sprinkfe a little Wolf bait near the trap and 
make everything look as natural as possible. 

When the snow is on, place a heavy stone 
in a sack and ride out to where you intend 
trapping, letting your horse drag the sack with 
the rock in it to make a path. Drag to a suit- 
able place to set the trap. Pull the drag up to 
your korse and make a shai^ turn. This will 
cause the wolf to oojrie to a walk and roalce a 
short tuni and he will step into your trap. 
^Extend your, path across the prairie from 
stream to stream. In this way you have a 
scented trail for them to follow right up to 
yowr trap. To set a trap, dig out the snow so 
the trap will set level with the surface. Lay a 
piece of white paper in thie bed to keep the 
trap fix)m freezing down. Cover very carefully 
with a thin layer of snow. Set th€ trap istiff 
enough so a rabbit cannot spring it and you are 
sure to .get the wolf. 

To catch a coyote dig a hole about two 
feet deep and two !leet square, then fill fuD of 
dry Band or dry dii^ and then put your trap 
in the dirt. Fix everything right and use your 
cbyote urine for bait and you will catch every 
time. It might pay you to ride horseback to 
and fxotn your traps and let nobody go with 
you. Do not let a dog follow yq^i for the dog 
will get into the trap and spoil your set for a 
coyotftk 

The timber woff and bnsh wolf are both 
found Is the not:th^m and oc^hwestem stat^ 
€x>d iGSaadft: Whe Hmhet yroiS is the Istgesr of 



THB SPORTSMMf'S GUIPK i03 

/ 

the two atid the most ferocious. They are botJii' 
hated by cattle and sheep raisers, as many of 
thdr sheep and cattle are carried off annually. 
These animals must not be confused with the 
pmirie wolf. All wolves resemble it. While of 
tho same family it is of a cowardly disposition. 
Tha wolf has a ravenous appetite and because 
of it becomes quite bold at times. These 
animals are very cunnihg and are not easily 
trapped. 

If yon can locate their tracks and naake 
your sets accordingly, you should hav^ good 
results. They are very tricky and sneaky, but 
thi^y can be caught. 

They are the most cunning of all animals aiid 
givat care and much patience must be used if 
thcv are to be caught in traps. We are giving 
the methods most commonly used and our 
readers had better try them both and decide 
which 5s the best for their particular locality, 
but in reality it is one of the most cunning 
animals to trap. 

The coyote of the wolf family, while of a 
co^^'ardly disposttlon, is more cunning than its 
lav^-PT brothers. It has an appetite which is 
seldom sativsfied. which accounts for numerous 
visits to civilization where it eats garbage 
refuse aiid such dead animal matter as it can 
find. The animal, though carnivorous, will eat 
nlmngt anything that it can swallow and its 
appetite frequently leads it to destruction. 

Place your trap about ten inches from the 
h^it, carefully set and cortceal a trap, cowr it 
lightly with dirt, so the surroundings will look 
as natural as possible. In this way they are 
erure to spring the trap and get caught. If is 
Wf'Il to cover the trap lightly with fine, dry dirt 
and then cover ^th anything natural to the 
place, where the trap \s setting, for tlie fine, 
dry dirt on a trap will keep all th© scent of a 



mumft Bimkl ihtxyuf^i the; fine, dry «li«it «|r mty- 
lis'mg- ©Ixmv: t'he.t IB' In the gnmnd, 

Am)i:itep gooii wi^y is to ddro « ^rung 
uifeke into tfe^'i p-owo-d mi& tmteu tlmj0.<?sp Ijow 
t¥ap» t0 it. .Also f8.3te-B. th© hdtit to ife<s gstaka 
Tbeiif. awi'^ the traps ii.p so m^ ta xnsjiep th© 
groMiad look natanii The wolf eaanot lake 
away tfie l-mlt If It^a.fasteBed iset^urefy, antd In 
bis fitrogg'le to 4o ^a will fm cmight in oae <^- 

ib-tey 'liave mom m&nt thaB they eaB. &&% %ef 
will dig a 'hole m tli© grormtl and pat the m«!at 
iin^ !fc aufl tMii cxifv^er it with dirt mxd leaves. 
■|1)iis would be a g'oo^i place to Bet a trap. 

The tej*t set to eatek a wolf or e& coyote fs. 
»--t>' tafe:e a bt^^'he! of <lr^" fme ssnd free i frnxn 
homfffi 6caxit that hm b^en eanied m a ckaR 
cack wltliowt g-otting smy smell on tbe sancli and 
take tli© Band to wlieT€> yoij saw a lot ' of 
co'voie traelc.8 aiid poisr the Baud on the girotmd 
tm& imt five m' bIt. txnpB mider the sand iU m 
eirele abmit two fc^-t fe. cUamtef with bait In 
fhv cej^iter of tiie cirde of t:mm in tb.6 saad and 
b'-rt!f'.>ifTig €tB (wer t!i0 eaad pile and hf: 
m&kixig It iodk smooth and le^el with no tigs 
erf' a. tep setttag" UmT& or anybody ha'dci? ttemst 
iiToiH!^,. F^:vt ?^ fjm^.B plem of cowt^lp in. the 
niifidfe i^ tho jH5.r\d pile' ^most out of sfgfht and 

am^. doifi make miy more treeks th&n you, can 
fee^, . B^i a trap t>@8ide am old road not used 

tm}($i hf s btjncli of irr^s^ss or a st^iimp or alkmg? 
elofft tfj II haij>^ fette^-s ot ckuie to aa old eaircass 
fi>f w^ ' ' ^ ■>y settmg your tmp Ib about tomxr- 
f:€€Ki i. . - i the tMiag yoxs.aire going to put 
tM ^t ou mM l#.®ve a« llttl^^ human sc©B,t «8s 
jj''*?^., t^&3S!. and dorft mak© any moi^ elgna tbaa 
S^o^i? t;a2E 5r#Ip mm\ all I ^mt yom to dci li to set^ 



THB 8P0BTS MAN'S GUIOK 65 

every trap just as I have told you to set the 
trap and do your best and do it every time you 
set a trap and see how little sign you can leave 
w^ien you set a trap, for a coyote is hard to 
catch, if you don't df> things right. Be sure t«» 
.set your trap bo that the wild aninaal can get 
in the trap and by having the trap set easy and 
not covered too deep and keep everything from 
under the pan of tlio trap that you have set 
for a coyote is hard to catch in a trap. 

Henr>^ Hamilton got $000 .for catching one 
big gray timber wolf in Nebraska. He used 
the ui'lne of a female dog that was in heat for 
bait and set the trap just as I have told you 
to set your traps \o catcii all kinds of wild 
animals. I caught a big black timber wolf! 
south of Buffalo, Wyoming in the Big Horn 
mountain a and got $100 for it, by the same 
method T have told you to use to catch wild 
aninials. I used the urine of a female coyote. 
That is the best you can find for bait and be 
sure and have a board fastened to the sole of 
your shoes or boots worn when going to and 
from the traps and kill the scent of the steel 
on the traps by snujking the traps over 'burning 
green cedar boughs or limbs of a green cedar 
tree and don't touch the traps with, bare hands 
or let any scent or odor or smell of any kind 
get on the traps after you have smoked them, 
for you will find where coyotes travel along 
paths and where coyotes urinate and scratch on 
the ground with their hitid feet and leave some 
sign on the ground like raked with a stick, that 
a good place to catch a coyote is at a scratch. 
A scratch is where a coyote rakes around on 
the ground with their feet after they have 
urinated on something close where the scratch 
it made on the ground and if you will look good 
you will find the place where the coyote 
urinated and right there is where to set your 



66 7HB sfortsmak's guide 

trap to catch a coyote, for the coyote will come 
to this place once a week. These scratches will 
be found along paths or at a gate or wh#re 
several paths come together and you must 
look good for scratches, for tlmt is the 
IjJace to set your trap and always set your 
trap right and good, without any sign or human 
scent and leave the place where you set the 
trap looking as natural as if you had never been 
there and always use the coyote urine for bait 
to catch a coyote. All the time for trail scent 
on the bottom of your boots or shoes, use for 
this purpose a scent made from the formula 
by putting two castors of a beaver and one 
teaspoonful of ground cinnamon bark in onehalf 
pint of brandy. Put in a bottle and shake 
well before using. Some hunters use whiskey 
on their feet to keep the human scent from dis- 
turbing the wild animals in going to and from 
their traps. You must use great caution in 
setting your traps if you catch a coyote. 

Because of the fact that wolves are fond 
of running on cow trails a very common meth- 
od of their capture is to set the trap in the 
trail. Tlie trail should be well defined, but not 
at all hollowed out. Bait around the trap with 
scraps of bone and set several traps along the 
path. Place bait or urine nine inches from trap. 

When setting traps for wolves and coyotes 
in paths and dd roads that are used by stock 
of any kind and people, always set the trap to 
one side of the path or road, so that when 
anything goes along they will not step in the 
trap. Be sure to have the trap set from four 
to eight inches from the road. Never set a 
trap in the middle of the path or road, for you 
might catch a child or some live stock and 
cripple them ^for life. Be careful about setting^, 
traps for wild animals. 

Setting traps and hunting for wolves and 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 67 

coyotes nrnst be practiced until one learns a 
great deal about them. We do not expect you 
to learn all that is connected with this particu- 
lai- branch of the business in a few days. 

One of the most simple sets to catch a 
wolf is to set three or four traps in a circle and 
sink the traps in the ground where there has 
been an old ca'mping place. Put some small 
pieces of meat in the ground almost out of 
sight inside of the circle of tlie traps and cover 
tlie ground with old dry grass or hay one inch 
deep about twenty cr thirty feet square around 
the traps and set fire to the grass or hay. Do 
not disturb the a&hes in any way or go close 
k) where you have your traps set. Always 
ride to your traps on horseback. This will 
insure the success of the set for wolves and 
coyotes. Be sure and set the traps as I have 
told you the right way. Put them in Uie ground 
so good tliat the beast o«.- man cannot lind them 
without being caught. Use urine for bait. 
'Hhat is all you have to do. 

I have caught all kinds of wild animals and 
have sometime 'caught the. devil" when a dog 
got into the trap, because the owner refused or 
failed to tie up their dogs and kept them at 
home instead of running all over the country. 
I have trapped in thirtynine states and hence 
have been up against all sorts of propositions, 
and feel competent to advise you rigiht in these 
things. 

Foxes arc suspicious ammals and are quick 
to sense the scent of man or trap. 

The fox is found throughout the North 
American continent. There are several different 
kinds of foxes. 

There are several recognized methods of 



(53; XHB SFORTSMAIf'fi CUJDlB 

trapping the fox. The trap should be buried 
to the ground level in a place where the fox is 
known to frequent and cover the trap with a 
mixture of dirt, leaving the surroundings as 
natural as possible. 

In setting traps for the fox find their run- 
ways 01- where they travel. Set the traps about 
two feet from a good sized tree. See that the 
trap m well covered and that the surroundings 
look natural. 

For bait use the uiine of a coyote or urine 
of a female fox, if you can get one. K you 
cannot get a female, just use the urine of any 
fox will do for bait to put at your^trap to catc^ 
a fox. ,' 

This will attract aU foxes whjych come 
anywhere in the vicinity. 

This fact makes it an easy animal to trap, 
if you have the surroundings as natural as 
possible and the trap well hidden in the ground 
by digging out a hole for the drag, chain and 
trap and putting them all in the hole. Put a 
cover over th© pan of the trap. Then cover 
with fine, dry dirt and then carrv away the 
rest of the dirt, if there is any left around 
your trap. Don't make any more tracks or 
leave any sign or human scent when you set 
a trap for a fox. Take somethmg and brush all 
around yo,ur trap and put your bait or urine 
about a foot from the trap on any object you 
want to. Have your bait fixed so that when the 
fox goes to smell of the urine that the fox will 
have to walk over your trap that you have 
concealed in the gi-ound the right way, without 
leaving any human scent or sign of a trap. 

Foxes are a barnyard pest and there are 
few poultry raisers who have not had their 
roosts visited at one time or another. These 
aaimals are too well known to require a detailed 
doHeription. Of the two, the skin of the red fox 



THK spoktsman's Gumn 59 

is the most valuable. 

The fox is very destructive in its habits. 
It w]Il kill for the love of killing even when 
not hungi3\ Its prey, principally, are chickens, 
biras, rabbits, moles, mice and gi'ound squiiTels. 
They have been known to have killed as many 
as twentyfive moles in a single night. 

The fox is the most cunning of all wild 
animals to trap and one of the most important 
things to be done is to kill all traces of human 
odor. 

When trapping for foxes great care should 
be used to cover traps and remove all unnatural 
appearances. 

A good method is to set the trap along an 
old road, oid cross fence and cross hedges are 
good places to set traps for foxes. 

They travel along fixed paths and rido-es 
and being for the most part nocturnal in th'eir 
habits. 

By setting your trap 'beside a bunch of 
dead grass or a rock or old stump or a small 
bush along where the fox is known to travel 
and put your bait on just anything vou can 
get that has no human scent about it will do to 
put the urine on, for foxes usuallv follow their 
same tracks or trail back and forth, sometimes 
traveling in the woods and sometimes in fields 
or rough, brushy places. Always look for fox 
tracks before you set yo«r trap. If there are 
any foxes close you mil see their tracks. Don't 
set a trap where you don't see any fox tracks. 

Another good set is in a spring or small 
stream that doe<! not freeze. ^5] icing the trap 
about a half inch under water, covering the 
space within the jaws with moss. Place the 
bait in such a position that the fox in attempt- 
ing to get it \^^^l put his foot on the mo.ss to 
keep from getting wet, thereby springing th« 
trap. This method is successful. 



JQ |N^ THE sportsman's guide 

^ow, I give you some Idea as to how to 
catch a Ibx. All you have to do is to set your 
trap just as I have told you and showed you 
my method in the right way to catch all kinds 
lof wild animals and I think you can trap any 
Mr. Fox. 

By doing your best in setting your trap and 
leaving the surroundings as natural as possible, 
without any human scent about or any sign 
of a trap and using coyote urin6 or fox urine 
for bait. 

BEAR 

In hunting and trapping hear -4 remember 
this in setting your traps so that the ibear has 
to go over the trap to get the bait. 

Do not fasten the trap to a stake. Always 
fasten your trap to a drag so that you can 
cover it with fine, dry dtrt. 

For bait use a good sized piece of fresh 
meat. Kid goat meat is the best. Bears are 
very fond of dried apples and if you can get 
them it may pay you to use dried apples in 
place of meat. 

The most common method of trapping the 
bear is to build a pen of logs four feet High 
and ten feet square, with a corner laid down, 
placing the bait in the middle of the peli, so 
that as the bear goes into the pen it must step 
in the trap by ha\Tlng the bo<ttom log left for 
the bear to step over into the trap. Bears are 
not suspicious of being trapped and enter verj 
readily. When you set a trap for a bear just 
set one of 'those big traps as if you were setting 
a small trap and dig your hole deep enough to 
put the drag and chain and some dirt. Put the 
trap level with the ground and put the cover 
over the pan of the trap and fill all around the 
trap with dry, fine dirt and rake everything on 
your cloth that you do not need to ibc wKere 



THK sportsman'* GUIDE 7X 

the trap is as the rest of the ground. Fix the 
ground over the trap just as if you had never 
been there and leave no human sign or scent. 
Now, you have your trap set and set good, 
without any sign of the trap or scent of a 
human beings and tlie only thing to do is to 
put the bait in the right place to be a sure 
catch every time a bear comes to your trap. 

For scent use the urine of a wolf or coyote, 
or bear or human. Fix so the bear cannot get 
to the 3Cent without having to go over the. trap. 
Notwithstanding the fact that every hunter and 
trapper hopes to have an opportunity to get a 
bear and will devote much time in doing so. 
AlwaylS use the urine of a coyote on a stump or 
log or at tlie root of a falling tree, where you 
can set your trap well hidden along a well used 
path made by bears or an old rotten log. by 
putting the trap in the ground with an iron 
drag* so the< bear cannot got away very far. 
Hide the drag and chain and conceal the traii 
well. Fix it so the bear cannot get the bait 
without going over the trap.. Destroy all signs 
and leave no more human scent behind that 
you can help. Now wait for the bear to come 
along. Don't go around your traps too much 
and leave a lot of scent. Always make as 
little noise as possible about your traps. 

You can set traps along the trails that 
lead to one of these pens and set three or four 
traps in the pens. Put bear or coyote scent 
around the pen. Put the dried apples in wator 
a day before you u.-,e them and keep all human 
scent from the apples. Pour them on the 
ground in the middle of the pen and use sonip 
fresh meat, if you have it. Always find where 
the bear haunts by looking for signs of the 
bear. That is the place to make your pen and 
B^t your traps. 

Traps of large size should be used for 



7fX THB SPORTSMA»r*S GUIDB 

thig animal and quite frequently the deadfaU 
can be used to advantage. 

The most prized of all big game animals 
that inhabit the wilds of the western half of 
North America is the grizzly bear. Because of 
its boldness and its prodigious strength, tiie 
grizzly is universally regarded as the lion is 
regarded in Africa err the tiger in India. An 
American sportsman thrills at the mention of 
its name, for no animal is more worthy of his 
rifle and no animal has left a deeper impression 
on the annals of exploration in the west. 

Some local areas in the desert beds of 
Idaho and Oreg^on contain a small number of 
grizzlies, but the only places wheire they are 
found in considerable numbers are th6 north- 
western comer of Montana, extreme northern 
Idaho, the Yellowstone, national park and the 
adjacent territory, north, east and south and 
certain mountainous regions of Colorado, the 
Fort Cook region in the Deschutes national 
forest and a few in the vicinity of Silver Lalfc 
in the Fremont forest. The hunter who w!H 
bring in a specimen of this dwarf grizzly win 
make a big contribution to the knowledge of 
wild life in western America. 

COUGAR 

The cougar or mountain lion is the off- 
spring of the' biggest cat in America. This 
animal was never really abundant, but was 
found in all the wilder sections of America 
from Canada to Patagonia. It has never been 
a danger to man like the lions of Africa and 
India. From the earliest association with man. 
th^ cougar wisely learned that man carried thp 
deadKest weapons and that the safest course waJ* 
to avej^ him in ever^ possible way,. Many 
stories have been written of cougars ' catchiiiir 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 73 

l^eople, 'but very few have been authentic. 

Make sets for the mountain hon in the 
same manner as for lynx and wolverine. 

BADGERS 

In trapping badgers betir this in mind: 
If you cannot locate their dens, set your trap 
in paths wliich tho^y are known to travel, by 
putting the trap in the gi'ound and covering it 
with fine dry dirt, if you have to carry the 
dirt four miles on your back in a clean sack, 
without any human scent oil the sack. Put 
your badger urine aliout a foot from the trap 
on something you iiave selected for that purpose 
and no other, without any human scent on the 
object that you are going to put the badger bait 
on. Badger bait sprinkled on birds or on a bluff 
rock a foot from the gi'ound and directly under 
the bait set your trap and cover witli tine dr}^ 
dirt and 'Ijrush the ground all down level over 
the trap and arcamd the trap and make the 
place where the trap is setting look as natural 
as if you had never been there at no time. 
Use the urine of a badger or the urine of a 
coyote. Put the urine about a foot from the 
trap, so that when the badger goes to smell of 
th'C' bait, the badger will have to cross over the 
trap. A catch is atmost sure to be made, if 
the trapper will exercise care and judgment in 
concealing the trap and putting the oait in tiie 
right place. Never. stake traps immovable, uut 
always fasten them to some sort of a drag so 
that you can put the drag, chain and the trap 
in the ground and cover up with fine dry dirt, 
so no living thing can tell there is any trap 
setting in tliat place or ever was a trap set 
there or any sign of a trap or visit by any 
person at any time. That is the way for you 
to set a trap to catch any wild animal that is 



74 THE sportsman's guide 

exceedingly cunning and of a suspicious nature. 
WOLVERINE 

In trapping a wolverine you must use good 
judgment and care, for this wild animal is hard 
to catch. To catch one of these wolverines you 
must set three or four traps in a path that you 
know that wolverines travel. Dig a deep hole 
and put the drag, chain and trap in this hole 
and cover it good, as if there was no trap set 
there. Set every trap 'by right methods. Ride 
a horse along this path and don't let it step 
on the traps. Drag a sack with fresh blood 
along this path where the traps are setting. 
Bait along where you have the traps setting 
with wolverine urine or thfe urine of a coyote 
or wolf, placing it on sticks about eighteen 
inches from your traps, so that when the wol- 
verine goes to smell of the urine it will step in 
the trap. By all means you must use the ut- 
most care in setting your traps and leave no 
sign or human scent about the trap. See that 
the suiToundings are left perfect. If you walk 
have a board fastened to the bottom of your 
boots or shoes to keep the humajQ scent off the 
ground and don't handle anything with your 
bare hands or let your clothing touch the bushes 
along the path where you have set your trap, 
so that the wolverine will not be suspicious and 
walk right into your trap. 

The best method to pursue in trapping 
the wolverine is to securely fasten a live rabbit 
'or squirrel to a stake and arrange a number of; 
traps carefully concealed around the live bait. 

LYNX 

In setting a trap for a lynx you must bear 
in mind to look for tracks of the lynx or set 



THE SPORTSMAN'S GUIDE 75 

the trap close to a hole in a tree not far from 
the ground and about two feet in front of the 
hole. Put the bait in the hole and cover your 
trap right or set your trap by a big i-ock and 
put the bait about fourteen inches high and 
something dead under the ground just beneath 
the bait. Have four or five traps set in the 
ground, well covered with fine dry dirt, about 
two feet in front of the 'bait or in a circle 
around the bait. To lure the Jynx to your traps 
use the urine of a xjoyote^or the urine^f a lynx 
for bait. You can use oil of catnip or a bunchi 
of green catnip to set your traps. You can 
tind catnip growing around the old farm houses. 
You can use several methods in setting your 
traps for lynx to catc' ''■ wild animal that 
you are trying to get. 

Always do your best m setting your traps 
and fixing the surroundings as if you had never 
been around or anybody, or even a trap set in the 
place. That is (li<^ w.iv vou must do to catch 
a lynx. 

Another goou mtinwii i.s to drive a stake 
about six feet long into the ground so that the 
stake will be above ground about five feet, 
sharpen the end of the stake and on it place a 
rabbit. Put a lot of leaves or chaff around the 
'base of the stake, set two or tlvree* traps three 
or four feet from either side, tJicn cover the 
traps over very lightly with fine dry dirt. Here 
again we wish to iaipress upon you that the 
surroundings must he left ys natural as possible. 

With this set, as ]ynx travel considerably 
and will pick up the scent and follow it for 
quite a distance to your b.iit and if your trap is 
set right then you will catch them, for they 
will follow your trail directly to your traps. 

Lynx are not very suspicious and if you 
can find their runway you will have very little 
trouble in getting them. 



7g THE sportsman's GUIDE 

Only in case of extreme hunger do they 
eat stale flesh and in some cases will go without 
rather than attempting to secure bait which is 
not fresh and tempting. ♦ 

Alwa,ys use fresh meat or the urine of a 
coyote or the urine of a lynx in setting your 
trap along the paths or setting- beside the path 
or at the hole of a prairie dog, by digging a 
hole in the ground and putting the trap m the 
hole and covering it so that the wild animal 
cannot know that a trap is setting there for it 
so the lynx cannot smell around the bait with- 
out getting in your trap. Lynx are very hard 
animals to catch if you don't do things right. 

You can do things right, if you read this 
guide and do what it tells you to do, if you 
wish to catch wild animals. 

BEAVER 

There are a number of different methods 
of trapping beavers and the success of one plan 
or another depends a good deal on the section 
of the country and the local conditions. All 
traps should be staked and weighted by stones, 
so that when the beaver is caught and dives for 
deep water the weight will hold it there till it 
drowns. Find places where there are signs of 
beavers. Set the traps in about four or five 
inches of water and put your bait on a cockle- 
burr, first taking out the kernel and putting in 
the urine of a beaver and tie a strong thread 
to the end of the burr that you do not have the 
hole in. Tie the string to a rock and put it in 
the water where you have the traps setting, all 
under water, so that when the beaver comes 
to smell of the bait or bun^ the burr will move 
and the beaver will go around after the burr. 
Have your traps all setting under the burr. 
Fasten tight and do not touch, this buiT with 



THK iPORTSMAN'S GUIDK " tl 

your hands. Use a stick. Don't let any human 
scent get on the stick or leave any sign on the 
bank within 200 yards of the place where you 
have your traps setting. Have a pair of rubber 
boots to wear while you are setting your, traps 
in the water and be sure to have all your traps 
and chain and drag under water, if you intend 
to catch a 'heaver, for they ^vill not come to 
the bait if they smell any human scent there or 
around there close. Do not set the traps too 
close to the dens of beavers, for when one is 
caught tlie others usally leave that place and 
go somiewhere else to live. Dig back into the 
bank two feet and six inches under the water 
and two feet above the water and then drive a 
stake on -one side close to the bank, two inches 
under the water to fasten your trap chain to 
and put beaver urine or bait we call it, on a 
stick stuck in the bank in back of the hole, 
about a foot above the water. You must be 
in a boat and don't touch anything on the bank 
or Wve any sign of the boat. Set your trap 
rig^t in front of the hole where you 
have j^our bait or beaver urine or the uiine of 
a coyote, or take two beaver castors and one 
teaspoonful of cinnamon !Jark and one half pint 
of brandy, put in a bottle and shake well be- 
fore using for bait, or oil of catnip or a small 
bunch of green catnip placed about eight inches 
above your trap, which should be setting in the 
water five or six inches deep. Always leave 
without making any sign or leaving any human 
scent to frighten the beavers away. Now, go 
and catch a beaver, for I have told you how. 
Another good set can be made by making 
a pocket two foot square in the side of the bank 
where the water is shalhnv, set the trap in 
front of the pock'et so the pan will be level 
with the water or a little under it. Four inches 
^ack of the pocket drive a stake so it will stand 



■'<. THE SPORTSMAN'S GUIDE 

about a foot above the water, put a few drops 
of bait on the stick. Stake the traps and 
weight them so that when the beaver is caught 
it will drown in diving for deep water, being 
'held there by the weight of the trap. 

Beaver castors are found in both the male 
and female beaver and are valuable. Tie a 
string aroimd the end of the castors when diy- 
ing in order that the valuable oil contained in 
the castor will not leak out. 

Beaver castors make good bait to catch all 
kinds of wild animals and are the next best 
suibstitute for ^he urine of a> coyote. Coycte 
urine is the be'st all round bait you can find 
to catch all kinds of wild animals on earth. 
You should keep some of it on hands all the ' 
time, if you ever expect to trap. 

Beavers live on the l)ark of poplar, cotton- 
wood, birch and willow trees, preferring them 
in the order named. A set should be made near 
the beaver's house or dpn^ " ' 'he animal 

will be sure to find it. 

Set the trap under water, at the foot of a 
steep bank and fasten a few green poplar or 
Cottonwood sticks pn the bank directly above 
the trap, so that t^e- benver will sten into the 
trap when LTving to reach; them.. Put a few 
drops of beaver hmt on the sticks. Be sure 
that the sticks are green and that the fresh cut 
ends plainlv show. Tf you cannot get poplar or 
Cottonwood, tire birch or willow will do. Fasten 
the trap chain so the captured animnl will be 

sure to drown. 

OTTER 

Remember that the otter is a very cunning 
animal, with as keen a nose as any furbearer. 

This animal is very hard to trap, being 
very suspicious and on this account a prepared 
bait is neoessaiy. Tn sections where banks ^r^ 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 79 

high, the best way is to find their slides and 
set traps in about one foot of the water at the 
bottom of the slide. Be sure to stake the trap 
and have the stake far enough out and in water 
so deep that the animal cannot get its feet 
above the water to cut out. They slide with 
their front legs sloping towards the back ones 
until they strike the water and then they 
straighten the front legs to swim and in that 
manner get their feet into the trap. Have the 
stake extend about six inches above the water 
and take your pocket knife and hollow out a 
small place in the top of the stick to put the 
bait in. 

The bait is very necessary for the otter, 
as it causes them to be much less suspicious 
and the odor of it makes them so curious that 
they will come right up to th'* stick to investi- 
gate. They will go around the stick and in 
doing so will spring your trap. Tf you find 
signs of the otter on the bank, set your trap 
there. To do this dig a hole just to fit the trap 
and throw all the dirt away so that no signs 
of the trap remain. Cover the trap carefully 
with fine dry dirt and put dry dirt over your 
trap and surroundings. Use fish for bait. 
Musk is also good, but fish is the best. 

Tlie following method can be successfully 
employed in sections where banks are low and 
the animals do not have slides. Find where 
fchey travel from lake to lake or along the 
streams of running water and set the trap In 
water when you can. from four to eight inches 
under the water. ITso a stick to put the bait 
on stuck in the ground on an angle so that the 
top of the stick is twelve to fifteen inches high 
and ever the trap. Also use the scent the same 
way when the trap is set on land. You must 
use great care to keep all human scent from 
your trap and the surroundings where your trap 



so THE sportsman's GUWE 

is setting-. For bait to lure an otter to the trap 
use otter urine or the urine of a coyote. Some- 
times you can set a trap and use two beaver 
castors and one teaspoonful of ground cinnamon 
bark in onehalf pint of brandy, put in a a bottle 
and shake well before using. Sometimes you 
can use oil of catnip. iTo get this oil gather 
the catnip and put in a clean jar covered with 
water and let it stand a week and pour the 
w;ater in a still and run the oil out. Don't let 
any water in the oil. This oil is very valuable 
to use for bdit to catch big wild animals. 

FISHER ' 

The same general methods used in trapping 
the mink and marten can also be followed in 
trapping the fisher. 

This can be done in several different ways, 
all of which will be explained. 

The best method is to tie a live rabbit or 
squirrel to a stake ,and set traps all around. 
Cover the traps and be sure that they are 
securely fastened to a heavy log or drag. 

The same set that catches a mink will 
catch a fisher. Dig a hole in the bank for the 
fisher to enter and place the trap in the en- 
trance. 'For bait put a fresh fish or bird and 
after putting a few drops of fisher bait upon 
it I place it in back of the trap so that the 
animal has to step on the trap in order to get 
the bait. Cover the trap with fine dry dirt. 
Before setting your trap look for the fisher's 
runway along the bank and put the traps where 
you discover its tracks. 

In making a set, bear in mind that the 
fisher travels along fixed paths. When his 
route is located, you have found a good location 
for your trap. 

Use coyote urine or fisher urine for bait. 



THE SPORTSMAN'S GUIDE 8! 

Set the traps n-^i'i aim luc ttll care to keep 
away any human acent. Then you can catcln 
a fisher. 

Bird, rabbit, squirrel, porcutpine, cougar, 
mountain lion and lynx meat make good marten 
bait to tie above your trap. After youi* trap is 
set right you will get your marten pretty nearly 
every time. 

All furbearing animals travel the same 
read often, and male and female follow each 
other. The same sense of smell is their guide 
to follow each other and by urinating on objects 
along ' their paj:hs or runways. They smell oi' 
and uiinate on the same things. 

WILD CAT 

Wild cats are found in neary every part 
of the United States. 

If you can lind the tracks of a wild cat or 
some other signs, you will have little trouble 
getting tliem into your traps. Cover the trap 
over smoothly. Any kind of meat bait hung 
aib'ove the trap will attract them. Destroy all 
scent. 

Set about three traps in a circle around 
the bait, securely covring them with loose dirt. 
Securely fasten the trap chains to a stake in 
the ground. Be careful and do not disturb the 
ground more than is necessaiy. Make it all 
look as natural as though the traps were not 
there. 

If you can find their tracks or some signs 
of them you will have liHlo f»-onl)le in getting, 
them into your traps. 

The wild cat usually hmkus its home among 
the rocks and after you locate signs of the 
animal it is cofnP'U'atively easy to capture 
them. Traps should be set near the entrance 
to a den, a sort of natural enclosure being pref- 



82 THE sportsman's guide 

erable. Meat bait, rabbit or bird, should be 
ihung about three feet above the trap and a 
few drops of wild cat bait , placed upon it. 
Cover the trap lightly and destroy all human 
scent. 

After you have set your trap right and 
fixed your bait of catnip oil or a green bunch 
of catnip at your trap, so that when the bobcat 
comes to smell of the bunch of catnip the cat 
will have to pass over the trap. Or you can use 
the urine of a wild cat for bait, when you 
have it and if you cannot get the urine of a 
wild cat, use the urine of a coyote. Always have 
a supply of some kind of urine on hand. It 
pays, for when you set four or five traps in a 
circle around a rabbit or chicken well hidden 
in the ground and some coyote urine on a stick 
just about a foot above your meat bait and have 
your traps covered with fine dry dirt or sand, 
without any signs of a trap or leave any human 
scent or sign of any disturbance, but just leave 
the ground as if you had never been there. 
Never touch your bait with your hands or any- 
tiiing to leave any human scent to scare off 
the wild animal that you want to catch. Put 
your bait about one foot from your trap. That 
is all that is necessary to catch a wild cat. 

Don't make any more tracks around your 
trap than you have to, for a wild cat is hard to 
trap, unless you use this method. 

RACCOON 

In trapping the coon it is well to bear in 
mind one of its foremost traits, namely, its 
curiosity, which can be best aroused by his 
sense of sight and smell. Bearing this in mind, 
all sets should foe made when you are setting 
traps a for coon by this method. All traps 
must be set with care. Place a chip or piece ot 



THE sportsman's GUIDE ' 83 

white china on the pan of your trap and put 
it in the water where the ^oon can get it. If it 
is properly displayed it will draw the coon to 
your trap, for a coon is attracted by any bright 
color fastened to the pan of the trap will cause 
Mr. Coon to investigate and will result in his 
capture, if the trap is properly set, ' 

Tlic coon haunts the streams of water 

, during the night, sleeping in some hollow tree 

or log during the day. It is very fond of fish, 

birds, etc., and feeds along drifts, logs and 

shallow places in the river v)r pond for crawfish. 

The coon may be caught by setting traps 
around drifts or roots of trees, on the banks of 
tlie creek, ponds or lakes or around logs or at 
the edge of the water, using a diy set by put- 
ting the trap in the ground the right way, by 
digging a hole just tlie' size of the trap and 
deep enough to put the drag and chain in and 
the trap with a cover over the pan and all 
covered with fine dust and brushed over smooth 
and lever. Have a ck»th to stand upon and 
put your dirt on and wien you get the trap set 
put everything on the cloth and carry it away, 
after you have put your hait on something se- 
lected for the purpose. When you are setting 
traps foi" coons always look for coon tracks and 
where they go in or out of the water, there is a 
good place to set your traps. Use coyote urine 
or the unrine of a coon for bait and fix the trap 
so that the coon cannot get to the bait without 
crossing over the trap. When your trap is in 
the water you must stand in the water and do 
not make any signs or leave any part of your 
clothes out of the water, chain, drag or any- 
thing else and don't touch anything near your 
traps with your bare hands. 

Use ever\^ precaution to kill the humap. 
odor. Wear gloves in handling your traps. Have 
a pair of rubber boots to wear to stand in the 



S4 7^E SPORTSMAN'S GUIOS 

water or stand in a boat when you are setting- 
traps in the water for a: coon and don't go out 
of the water less than 100 yards from your 
trapi) or go into the water at any time. Don't 
touch anything on the bank close to your trap 
if you want to catch a coon, for it has a keen 
scense of smell. The coon has a fondness for 
i:>asbing between stumps and stones. This su,^- 
jgests a good place to set your trap for him — 
along paths and creeks which are close to the 
coon's den by putting the urine of a coon on 
something close to their paths, such as an old 
stump or some dead gTass or dry cowchip. 
The urine of a coyote is good bait for a coon. 

Select a place along the edge of a stream 
that coons are known to fr^uent. Fasten a 
white Cbje^ to the pan of the trap. Then place 
your trap, Tig''htly set, in the edge of the water 
and about two inches under the surface. 

Always fix your bait so that the coon 
cannot get to it without passing over the trap. 

It is a good scheme to put your trap close 
to where the coon passes or in the path or on 
the tracks of the coon along the creeks or 
sandbars, with the coyote or other urine, or 
live rabbits or chickens. 

Caon bait placed on a bush or a tree near 
where the trap is set will make the catch more 
certain. 

When you are making meat sets for coons 
by putting three or four traps in a sand pile 
with a stake drove down in the middle of it 
and the meat tied fast to the stake. For a 
oneat set use a dead rabbit, bird or chicken and 
place the bait on a stake back of the sand pile 
and set your trap about six or eight inches 
f)rom the bait with the spring next to it and 
have the trap level with the ground by digging 
out a little dirt and place some leaves where 
the trap is set, as this will prevent the trap 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 85 

from freezing to the ground. Cover the trap 
with fine dust and make the surroundings as 
natural as possible. Remove everything from 
around the trap that docs not look good to you. 
This is all you have to do — set the trap right 
and put your bait eight inches from the trap 
and then fix your bait right and leave all things 
as you found them, without much human scent 
left to cause the coon to be cautious. Then 
you can catch a coon every time one comes to 
visit your trap. 

HOW TO GET A COON OUT OF A TREE. 

Have a live coon in a sack and carry it in 
the sack alive. When the dogs or hounds tree 
a coon take the live coon to the roots of the 
tree where the coon is. Get the hounds where 
they will not let the coon get away, for the coon 
will come down out of the tree rig'ht now. All 
you have to do is to choke the coon you have 
in the sack until it squeals as if it was being 
killed and the coon in the tree will come down 
right now. If the coon is in a den or htole it will 
come out at once. If you do not have a live 
coon, go to the tree or den and make a noise 
with your mouth, just like the coon was being 
killed or breathing its last or fihting for his life 
with four or five dogs. Put your hands to your 
mouth and against your chin and squeal at the 
same time. A wild coon is best for this pur- 
pose. The wilder and older the better and 
louder the coon will squeal. 

Some hunters have a chain and fasten the 
coon and when the dogs tree a coon they tie 
this coon to the tree and let the dogs fight the 
coon until the coon in the tree comes down or 
out of the hole. As soon as the dogs begin 
choking thie coon and it begins to squeal, then 
you can look for the coon in the tree to jump 



86 THE sportsman's guide 

out and try to make 4ts get away if it can. 
Always be on the lookout for the* coon when 
you try this experiment. It works every time. 

MINK 

In trapping minks the most, experienced 
trappers recommend the setting of traps along 
small streams. They are more winding and 
crooked and more drift is lodged along the 
v,''ay, affording more hiding places for the 
animals and tlierefore good places for setting 
traps both in and out of the water. 

When looking along the banks of a creek 
or branch you will sometimes see old muskrat 
dens. Mink like to go through them. They 
will enter them under the w^'tf!r and cut a small 
hole out to the other bank. Tbis is an excel- 
lent place to put a trap. Sink the trar> level 
with the CTOund and cover smoothly with old 
leaves. No bait is n^essary for a place like this. 
though one should always use a few dror)s of 
mink bait, which will attract m^nk that are 
traveling the stream and cause them to investi- 
gate the old dens. 

A minks own carcass or urine is the most 
preferable. The mink likes a musky smell, so 
this is good bait. ^ 

The mink will m m and out of the water 
usually where it ^^^ Fth allow. If the water is 
very deep dig out p little excavation in the bank 
right at the waters edge, sink the trap there, 
allowing the water to AoaV in nnd cover the 
trap. Tf you f^nd the water too shallow, dig out 
the bottom until you can sink the trap level, 
then, in either instance, cover the trap over 
smoothly with leaves that are found in the 
bottom of the stream. They are soaked with 
-water and that causes them to lay flatly on 
the trap. Put a few drops of mink bait on the 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 87 

bank dii^ctly above the trap. In making water 
sets always stand in the water, as no signs of 
the trapper must be left around the trap. If 
obliiged to stand on the bank, make as few 
tracks as possible while making sets and blot 
those out with water. 

A mink will keep on the bank near the 
edge of tbe water when he strikes a deep hole, 
but will invariably go through the middle of a 
shallow stream. 

When you are setting traps for minks out 
of the water be sure to use the urine of a 
mink or the urine of a female coyote, if you 
can, for a mink is another hard animal to 
catch without knowing how to set your trap 
and fix the surroundings and place the bait and 
leave very httle sign and no more human scent 
than is possible, to set the trap right, as I have 
told you to remove everything that you handle 
or touch and to put your bait about six inches 
from your trap on something you have selected 
for this puiT>ose, without leaving any human 
scent on the object. Only put a few drops of 
urine on the object, as that is enough for a 
mink. You do not want much urine, for the 
mink might not go close enough to smell of the 
bait and then you would not get the mink in 
your trap. When j^ou set the trap in the water, 
put the cliain and drag under the water and 
stand in the water all the time or stand in a 
boat while you are setting a the trap. Don't 
leave any scent of yourself or sign of the trap. 
Sometimes meat bait is good. You can try 
everything that you can think of after you 
have studied this guide. 

Muskrat and fish furnish the best food foi' 
mink, consequently care should be taken that 
no human scent gets on the bait. This should 
be used when a food bait is required. During 
(jertain periods the mink are not attracted by 



88 THE sportsman's gtjide 

food baits and it is at such times that the urine 
animal baits are most effective. A few drops 
of urine or mink bait will attract minks when 
a food bait will not attract them. 

The male mink is a wanderer. Efe will 
travel miles to visit v/ith a female. When one 
of the female's dens is found, (she usually has 
two or three close tog-ether) it is often wise not 
to try to catch her at all, but make sets for 
the male. This can be best done as follows: 
Secure a dead chicken, rabbit, etc., and put it 
in shallow water some distance from the 
female's den. Put a few drops of urine from a 
female mink around the bait and arrange several 
traps placing rocks or sticks about so that the 
meat cannot be disturbed unless an animal is 
cauprht in the trap.- A mink passing: such a 
set is attracted by ft, provided the same has 
been carefully set and the surroundings left as 
natural as possible. The den of a female ca.T 
he located bv the animal *s tracks. They are 
always small. Put on your gloves when hand- 
ling the trap. This removes the human scent 
Under the roots of old trees, creeks, rivers, 
TTonds, rapids and little riffles are good places 
to set trans, for it is here that the animals 
hunt for food. 

A mink going iw or down the creek will 
hunt for cra^;^lRsh and minnows in these places. 
Sets may: be made on the land for the mink 
'' both' with and without bnit. Traps for this pur- 
nose should not be handled with the naked hands, 
but with, gloves used for no other purpose than 
m.aking sets of traps out of water or in the 
water and leave no part of the trap or drag 
out of the water, but all covered with water. 

Thin win make an ideal place for catching 
the mink, as they are sure to pass through, 
providing conditions are left as natural as 
possible. ' ' 



TBS sportsman's GUIDE SQ 

If a trap is placed in a narrow, running 
stream of water between two deep holes of 
water, practically every mink that passes up 
and down the stream of water will be caught. 
It can be caught around old logs, holes, roots, 
muakrat dens, etc. The entrance to the mink's 
dens are generally under water. 

When it gets too cold and the water freezes 
over in the creeks and rivers and you fmd a hole 
in the ice called airholes and place a trap di- 
rectly under this hole where the water is 
sliallow, but deep enough to cover the trap, 
put your drag under the ice so that the mink 
cannot see any sign or human smell around the 
hole where you set the trap. Put your trap 
under the water one inch. This is the kind of 
a set for the mink. 

MUSIvRAT 

To trap muskrats use a water set, placing 
the trap in shallow water, say two inches deep, 
at old holes or around logs or roots' of trees. 
For bait use muskrat urine, or apples, corn, 
carrots, etc. A good 'bait is also a piece of 
muskrat carcass. Muskrats are fond of nibbling 
on catnip, so it will pay you to put a few stalks 
around your set occasionally. It has been found 
that a more common method of trapping the 
muskrat is to locate their slides on the banks 
and set the tiap in the water directly beneath 
their slides. The trap should be about two 
inches under tlie water. 

Another good set for the muskrat can be 
m.ade by placing tlie trap in shallow water. A 
sheltered place is preferable and if one is not 
to be found, make a break in the water of 
wood and stones to protect the trap and bait. 
Place a v/eed or piece ot brush so that the top 
of the same will hang four or five inches above 



90 THE sportsman's guio£ 

the pan of the trap. Sprinkle muskrat bait on 
a stick in the banlv. Don't touch the stick with 
your bare hands 

Another method is to dig a hole in the 
bank where the water is deep and put a trap 
in it. Hang a piece of apple six inches above 
the trap. The muskrat will try to get the bait 
and will be caught. 

The old colony trap can be used to a good 
advantage. Make this trap out of chicken 
wire with a funnel at one end and with wings. 
Use muskrat urine for bait. Set the trap close 
to the bank. Keep all signs and human scent 
away from the trap. This method has been 
used with great success. 

A common method of trapping the muskrat 
is to find their holes m the bank and set the 
trap in the entrance. 

The methods given for trapping the mink 
may be successfully used in trapping weasels, 
as they are of veiy similar habits. 

When you want to catch muskrats in lakes 
or ponds and small streams where there are 
muskrat houses, all you have to do is to make a 
wire trap out of chicken wire six feet high and 
eig^t feet long and fasten it in a drum or a 
round shape with a funnel in one ejid and a 
piece over the other end of. the trap. The fun- 
nel must have a hole in it just the size of the 
muskrat with a small loose wire over the hole 
where the animal goes into the trap. When it 
goes into the trap it cannot get out. Make the 
funnel out of sixteen inch chicken wire six feet 
long and wire it fast and tight in the drum and 
put the funnel on the insiHe of the drum or 
trap. Have the small part of the funnel the 
size of a half gallon fruit jar. Have the little 
part of the funnel pointed back into the trap 
and the large part pointing out, so the animal 
will go into the trap. Take the trap to the 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 91 

muskrat house and put it in the run of the 
muskrats. If tiiere are more than one muskrat 
liouse, make as many traps as you have musk- 
rat houses. Get on top of the muskrat houses 
with a sharp iron and jab or push the sharp 
pointed rod down through the muslorat house 
and run out all tlie muskrats into your wiixi 
traps. When the traps are full drown them, 
take them out and skin them. You can use the 
wings on each side of the trap, if you wish. 
This works fine in small streams for musla-ats, 
minks, and sometimes you may get a coon. 
Some trappers iiave a funnel at both ends of 
the drum or traps. 

This also makes a good fish trap. There 
is no better trap made — if you make it right 
and use wire instead of steel traps for muskrats. 
You can catch all the muskrats in a lake in a 
day's time, or a few days at most. All you 
have to do in using this trap is a pair of waders 
or a boat and carry your traps from one musk- 
rat house to another. Take out all your animals 
ana fish every time you examine your trap. I 
caught 200 muskrats and four minks in one 
day on a lake. Try this trap for muskrats. 
Some trappers put this trap into the water at 
the end of a slide with the wings to catch 
muskrats. Sometimes they get a beaver or 
other animal that goes down the slide. 

A trap like this one is good to keep posted 
on how to make. To make one that will hold 
all kinds of wild animals, use wire netting or 
fencing wire. Learn Ic put wings on the trap 
and how long to have them so you can lead the 
animals to ,the trap and where to put the trap 
so you can get the animal in the trap and 
when you learn all about the wire trap and how 
much Ijetter it is, you can then take advantage 
of all kinds of wild animals that lives in holes 
in the ground or in a tree and in the water. 



92 THE sportsman's guide 

Then you will say how long will I live by having 
learned all about hunting and trapping all kinds 
'of wild animals. This trap will make a good 
crate to carry wild animals in or hawling wild 
animals or shipping them. 

OPOSSUM 

In trapping the possum always set your 
trap around some dead animal of any kind, for 
the possum likes to go around dead animals 
and along hollows and close to straw piles or 
in a path that leads to some brushy thicket 
where there are rocks and holes of all kinds. 
Ne"\^er set a trap in a hole unless you dig the 
hole yourself to put bait in and set the trap in. 
the mouth of the hole and fix your trap so that 
the possum cannot smell the bait without having 
to go right over your trap. Always set your 
irap right as I have told you how. Use the 
urine of a coyote or the urine of a possum will 
do to use for bait. Put your bait about eight 
]nches from your trap. Some kind of meat is 
also good bait to catch a possum. Always cover 
the trap with fine dust and leave the surround- 
ings as natural as possible, as if no trap had 
been set there. 

The possum is easily caught and almost 
any kind of a set will prove effective. 

Two or three traps should fee set about 
three feet from ))ut around the bait and much 
care should be used so as not to disturb the 
surroundings or make the animal suspicious. To 
place traps, dig a hole in the ground just deep 
enough so that the top of the trap will be level 
with the gTound. After you have dug the hole 
and put the' drag, chain and trap in and the 
cover on the pan of the trap, and covered it 
all over with dry dirt or dust, then smooth over 
until everything looks as if there was no trap 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 93 

setting in the place, putting your bait in the 
right place or some dead fowl on a stake about 
one foot from the ground, with traps set all 
around in a circle around the dead carcass of 
any kind and have your trap baited with coyote 
urine, for possums usually live along cliffs or 
hollows or some bi'ushj^ place and make their 
dens among the rocks. If you find their tracks 
or some sign of them, you will have very little 
trouble in catching them in your trap. Just set 
the trap where you see possum tracks. All 
animals make their rounds in a week to your 
trap. Be sure to have your trap set right and 
thte bait in the right place to catch possums. 
All you have to do to catch any kind of wild 
animals is to follow the directions T have given 
you in these pages. 

Some trappers suggest to put the trap on a 
mound of dirt that the wild animal has dug out 
of the hole that it lives in. It may work with 
the possum, hut T would not trust all wild 
animals that way. Bait with the urine of a 
coyote will attract the possum just as soon as 
lie comes out of the hole or just as soon as he 
comes to go into the hole every time. You can 
bet on that every time. ^ 

PORCITPINE 

In trapping for porcupine use rubber for 
bait, by driving a stake and use wire to tie the 
rubber to the stake with. Fasten the trap so 
the porcupine cannot get away. Set your trap 
in the right way by digging a hole and puttincr 
your trap in the hole and cover over nice and 
smooth and wait for the porcupine to come 
around. Always set your traps where the 
porcupine frequents or where you see its tracks. 
Set your trap about eight inches from the bait 
or rubber that you use for bait. Set three or 



94 THE SPORTSMAN^S GUIDE 

four traps around the rubber. 

MOLE AND GOPHER 

You may want to know how to trap a mole 
or gopher. Find where they are at work and 
dig out in th,e runway down so the trap will 
be level ^ with the ground and cover with fine 
dirt. Get two oyster cans and put them on 
the fire and unsolder them and put them over 
the trap and cover up and wait for one to come 
aloni?. A sure catch. No bait is needed. 




SKUNK , 

Trappers are perhaps better acquainted 
with this animal than any of the other Ameri- 
can furbearing animals. If you can at this time 
locate their dens you are almost sure to ^et him 
in your trap. The animals are numerous and 
very easily trapped. 

We recommend the following methods in 
trapping skunks: 

Dig a bed for your trap and put some dry 
chaff or grass on the bottom of the hole so 
that your trap will not freore to the groand in 
real cold weather. Set yMf^* trap and spread a 
light covering with dry fine dirt over it so that 
the ground will look natural as possible and 
near the trap place a few drops of skunk bait 



THE SPORTSMAN'S GUIDE Q?i 

SO the skunk cannot get to the bait without 
going over the trap and you will make a sure 
catch if there any skunks around. 

Skunk bait is made by taking the urine of 
a skunk or using the urine of a coyote. Put 
your skunk bait about six inches from your 
trap so that when tlie skunk goes to smell of 
the bait it has to pass over the trap. Do not 
put the trap in the den of a skunk, but on the 
outside or dig a hole and put the bait behind 
the trap and you are sure to get the animal 
every time. 

Skunks live more in dens underground and 
are given to roaming fields and meadows and 
of course they relish fowls, birds and small 
game. Tliey are most easily trapped along run- 
ways following old fences and secluded places. 
Cover the trap lightlv with dust and place the 
bait directly above the trap, of smatl game or 
bait on a stick or a weed about one foot outside 
of the path made by the wild animals. Care 
should be taken when setting the trap for 
skunks to see that the trap is concealed and set 
in the right way T said for you to set a trap, 
by digging a hole and putting the trap in the 
hole and covering with dry fine dirt. Take this 
advantage by using tainted meat in a hole due 
out and the meat put in the hole and the trap 
set in the mouth of thie hole and use the musk 
of the skunk, part of the urine and stink ba(r 
and put together and use for bait and this will 
attract a skunk. Their sense of smell being 
very peculiar. 

M'Tien you fin^ a skunk hole or den of 
skunks and you get a smoker and a rubber hose 
and run one end of the hose in the hole or 
den as far as you can and then put the smokei* 
on the other end of the hose and then get you 
a wire trap that is made like the rauskrat 
chicken wire trap and put in the hole where 



96 THE spoktsmak's gotde 

you have the smoke to run out the skunks or 
any animal that might be in the hole, for smoke 
will rim ont any kind of wild animal that goes 
in holes or dens or caves. 

How to make your own smoker that will 
ru|n out wild animals of all kinds: Use cotton 
rags and sprinkle some sulphur and feathers 
and old pieces of rubber shoes. Put this in 
your smoker and send the smoke into the hole 
where the wild animal you want to smoke out 
into your wire trap. This smoke will run out 
all kinds of ^vild or tame animals. Be sure 
and get the smoke back of where the animals 
are staying* or end of the hole. 

As soon as the smoke clears away it is just 
as attractive a nesting place as before. Later 
you can return to find the den aigain occupied 
with' another fine catch waiting for you. 

The smoker not only gives you a splendid 
opportunity to increase your catch, but it also 
enables you to select only those pelts that are 
prime. Kits or cubs, females and the unprime 
animals may be allowed to go free until some 
future time or the latter may be taken uninjur- 
ed and held until they are worth more money 

CT\ET CAT 

The civit cat belongs to the skunk family. 
Tts habits are similar and it is trapped in 
much the same manner as the skunk. Tt is 
often called the spotted polecat and you can 
use the urine of a coyote for either skunk or 
civet cat. 

In hunting and trapping the civet cat al- 
ways set your traps along hollows, fences, straw 
piles and around holes in stony places where 
they live. Be sure anci do not put a trap in a 
Ihole where the civet cat lives, for if you do the 
cfvet cat will leave, but you can set your trap 



THE SPOBTSMAN'S GUIDE 97 

close to their dens or by paths made 'by the 
animals. In setting a trap to catch a civet cat 
you want to dig a hole in the ground and have 
a drag on your trap so that you can put the 
drag, chain and trap all in the same hole and 
cover with dry line dirt and leave as little sign 
as you can- make in setting your trap and after 
you have set and covered tlie trap well and 
brushed oft" smooth and nice and put your 
scent about six inches from your trap on the side 
you think the wind will be blowing from at the 
time when the civet cat will come to visit your 
trap. You must use the urine of a civet cat or 
coyote, which is the best. You can use the 
urine of a skunk, which is also very good. Al- 
ways have your U"ap so fixed that when the 
civet cat comes to smell of the bait, it will have 
to gD over the trap. 

There are any number of ways and places 
that might be suggested, but the trapper must 
use individual judgment to guide him as to the 
exact spot to place his traps. 

The bait should be so placed as to make 
the animal cross the trap to get the bait. Never 
put the bait on the trap itself. 

A little observation will soon enable one 
to distinguish the newer and more fresuently 
used runways from those that have been wholly 
or paitially abandoned. 

I think you can take this method and go 
out and catch aily civet cat that lives. I can 
calcii them this way. I never fail to catch all 
the civet cats fn the neighborhood. 

T'he civet cat will run in and out of every 
hole it comes to and for this reason trappers 
dig a small hole usually close to the side of a 
bank, place some civet cat bait in the bottom 
and conceal the trap just at the entrance. Part 
of a rabbit, chicken or bird sprinkled with civet 
cat bait and suspended from the limb of a tree 



98 "^^B sportsman's Guue 

a I'ew inches above your trap will be sure to 
attract the civet cats and you are bound to 
get them. 

WOODCHUCK OR GROUNDHOG 

This animal does more damage to crops 
and meadows than- all the rest of the animals 
put together and there is no law to prevent 
killing or catching the woodchuck or groundhog. 
All you have to do is to set the trap in their 
paths that lead to the hole where the ground- 
hog lives. Be sure to fasten your trap fast 
so the groundhog cannot get to a hole, for 
when they get to a hole thoy can pull their 
feet oat of any trap. Set your trap in the 
ground the right way and baited with food 
that the groundhog is destroying. You can use 
an apple, potato or roasting ear or groundhog 
or coyote urine. 

RABBIT 

In trapping rabbits you will learn that 
a trap must be put in the ground by digging a 
hole flor the trap and cover smooth and level 
with the ground. Set your trap as easy as 
you can for rabbits are very light in weight. 
Bait your trap with urine of a coyote about six 
inches from your trap. » 

In setting traps for rabbits set your trap 
where the rabbit runs, plays or wallows or go 
under the fence, for rabbits are bad on garden 
truck. You can set your trap in the garden 
for rabbits eat anything in the garden. This 
is a sure catch-, if you leave everything looking 
natural and fix your bait so that when the 
rabbit goes to smell of the urine ofi the coyote 
the rabbit will hop onto the trap. I always 
leep a pet coyote so that I can have bait when 



THE SPOKTSMAN'S GUlDK 99 

I want to trap. See if the rabbits eat any 
more of your .ofarden truck. If! they do it is no 
fault of mine, as I have given you the proper 
method of catching them. 

SQUIRREL 

In setting a trap for squin-els you can 
make a box two feet square and six inches deep 
and with a good tight bottom in the box to 
hold dirt and fasten the box where you see 
the squiiTels feeding. Fill the box with fine 
dry dirt and set your trap in this box. Se« 
that the trap and chain are covered nice and 
smooth and then hang an ear of com over the 
trap about a foot high from the trap. You can 
fasten the 'box to anything, such as a tree or 
post or place in on a log in the woods. Use 
all caution in keeping away the human scent 
or smell, if you are expecting to catch and be 
sure and set your trap right in all case. 

RATS 

Rats are easy to trap. All you have to 
do is to set the trap in the ground or set the 
trap anyw;here and cover over the ti'ap so the 
animal cannot see the trap and 'bait with any- 
thinig you want to, or use cheese. Place it about 
four inches out or over your trap and always 
put the trap in the .ground arid cover with 
fine diy dirt and leave no more signs than you 
can help. Bait your trap with what the rats 
are eating. That is the best bait. 

To poison rats use hydrocynic acid, one of 
the most deadly poisons known. You don't even 
have to take a dose of it to leave this world. A 
whilT of it and away you go! You are hterally 
gone before you can draw another breath. This 
deadly poison is sold and used because it is the 



109 7BB SFO&TSMAK'S CUIDB 

most efficient destroyier of insects and vermin 
that has ever yet been found. The United 
States gx3veniment uses it at ports to exterm- 
inate rats and mice, which may carry tiie 
bubonic plague. In calfironia it is released 
beneath orange trees. The trees are covered 
with white caps and the operator drops a pinch 
of the preparation into a prepared flower pot 
beneath, iiolding his breath as he , does so and 
then running away while tiie mounting fumes 
kill every insect on the tree. Put the poison 
in holes and then stop the holes up. 

When you are using poison to kill predatory 
animals be very careful about it and inform 
the people of the community, so they can keep 
their dogs or other animals or children from 
coming in contact with the poison. 

FISH 

Fish is the cheapest food of animal protein 
in the world and the sooner fish are cooked the 
'b-etter. Fish are easily digested and nutritious. 
Fish are especially valuable for the inactive. 
Learn to catch fish. 

A fishing season is and should be some- 
thing sacred. The fisherman who will permit 
anything to interfere with it is no true disciple 
of Isaak Walton. He may not catch a fish in 
the whole year that is big enough to curl in a 
frying pan, but he has done his duty. 

He will have walked weary miles. His 
winter softened muscles will be made strong 
again. A forgotten appetite will again rage 
within. His eyes will be cleared and the dod- 
dering winter step, bred of cautious tiptoeing 
on the icy pavement, will become a stride. He 
will have gained touch with nature and been 
healed by days of rains and sunshine and the 
steep inclines of hills and the furious 'baffling 



THl sportsman's GtHDE 101 

with hooked brush. His temper will be sweeten- 
ed and home and the office will be sweetened 
by that fact. 

In a month or so the acid will have l)een 
eliminated from him. He will again be philo- 
sophic and accept the frailties of humanity 
along- with its devotions and sacrifices and cour- 
age. He will come in of a morning cleareyed 
and humming a little tune. 

More power to the fisherman! And a little 
humming noise of approbation for the fisher- 
man. 

To fry fish so they will not have any 
small bones that children or grown people will 
not get choked upon, or to take out the small 
bones: Lay the fish down on its side and take 
a shall) knife and cut as close as you can to 
the backbone of the fish. Make the cuts as close 
to each other as you can, say from one to two 
inches, owing to the size of the fish, cutting 
as nearly through as poesible. Then turn the 
fish over and cut the owier side in tlie same 
manner. Start at the head and cut from the 
backbone across the side of the fish to the tail. 
Fry brown in a lot of grease. There will not 
be any bones left— except the big ones. Try 
this way once. 

Fish feed in the moonlight at night. If 
the moon shines in the day, go fishing in the 
day time, but if it shines in the night time, the"' 
night is the time for successful catches. 

HOW TO COOK FISH 

Sportsman Trout— Take two fresh young 
trout, clean, wash and wipe dry. Season well 
with salt and pepper and place in a narrow 
baking pan. Fill the pan with cream to cover 
the fish and bake until a light brown. The 
cream will make sufficient sauce to serve with 



102 THE spoKTSMAN's Gunnc 

the fish. Catfish may be cooked the same way. 

Baked Stuffed Fish— Prepare a stuffing for 
the fish, using onehalf a cupf.ul of bread crumbs, 
onef'ourth cupful of Initter, oneihalf cupful of 
cracker^ crumbs, a few drops of onion juice, one- 
fourth teaspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of 
chopped parsely, two tablespoonsful of chopped 
sour pickles. Bind with a beaten egg and stuff 
the fish. Lay m the pan two strips of cheese- 
cloth. On this place the fish. This will keep 
the fish from breaking when lifting from the 
pan. Bake until the fish leaves the bones. Serve 
garnished with cress and sections of lemon. 
Any kind of fish may be stuffed in this manner. 

Jellied Fish — Cook a two pound fish and 
remove the bones and ^kin, chop fine, add a lit- 
tle at a time a half cupful of cold water, a tea- 
spoonful of salt and the juice of three len\,ons, 
one tablespoonful of gTated onion and two dozen 
blanched and finely chopped almonds. When 
all have been well mixed add two tablespoonsful 
of gelatin which has been softened in onefourthi 
capful of cold water dissolved over hot water. 
Pack in a mold and when thoroug'^^ily chilled 
sorve in a crisp nest of lettuce with mayon- 
naise dressing. All fish make jelly. 

THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WAYS 

It has been estimated by the experts of 
the United States bureau of fisheries that under 
favorable conditions an acre of water will 
produce as much or more Ufesustaining food, 
if devcted to the raising of fish, as five acres 
of l&nd. 

I love to go a fishing, 

On a balmy day in spring; 

When the wavas are gently swishing. 

And the birds are on the wing I to the 



THK SPORTSMAW'S QUIDK lOJ? 

mountains or lakes. 

The days gTow shorter, the nights grow longer, 
The headstones thicker along the way; 
And life grows sadder, but love grows stronger, 
For those who walk with us by the way! 

When all nature is in glory. 
And the boy with lively step; 

Enters here into my story, 

Filled with gladness and with "pep!" 

But all true things In the world seem tmer, 
And the better things of earth seem best; 

And friends are dearer as friends are fewer. 
And love is all as our sun diiw west! 



Then with cane poles long and slender. 
And fishing hooks and line; 

To the river or lake we wander, 
AVhere the fishing's always fine! 

Then let us clasp hands as we walk together. 
And let us speak softly in low, sweet tones; 

For no man knows on the morrow whether. 
We two pass in— or but one alone! 

I happen to have had quite a little 
experience landing trout and salmon in some 
of the most important streams in the world, 

Gentlemen — Fishing with high but clear 
water, if you will sink' to the bottom with the 
aid of split shot, either nymphs, caddis, creeper, 
ti'out helgarmite, very small grasshoppers or 
crickets, even a tiny crawfish, trout will be 
sure to take either one or the other. The 
size and number of split shot used is determin- 
ed by the strength of water flow. The lure 
must touch the bottom and remain for awhile, 
then be slowly lifted up to the surface and 



104 THE spoktsman's guide 

slowly dropped back to the riverbed. If thi« 
is repeated, time and again, from place to 
place, if any trout are there, they will surely 
take it, not only in running rivers, but in still 
water lakes. It is now an assured fact that 
trout Will not respond to any mortal thing 
the angrier offers unless it is natural food — ' 
inteectsj, creepers or young minnows — aw!ake 
from their doTTnant state at the bed of the 
stream. For many years I have proved this 
fact. Should the season be abnormally late, if 
you will carefully study the river side and find 
that aquatic creatures are entirely absent, de- 
pend upon it no success will be possible. 

This is true to life and recalls scenes and 
experiences of my boyihood and early manhood 
as a sportsman: 

Man riseth up in the early raoming and 
>goeth forth animated, filled with hiVli hopes 
and exalted expectations. 

When he arriveth at his destination he 
setteth about his arduous duties. 

Soon he wormeth his way into the confi- 
dence of the unsuspecting and guileless fishes 
and feeleth not ashamed. 

Tt is best to fish down stream with two 
small wet flies of a dark brown or black, which 
is the color of all early flies. Better still it is to 
fish down stream with a floating reverse brown 
drake or very small shadfly. Both are most 
effective where the water is deep and swift. 
Let the reverse flies run anywhere. Keep them 
up near the surface and fish most carefully over 
all those places where the water turns round 
into backwaters from the main flow^ of the 
Etream.. Tt is such places where especially the 
brook trout congregate together in such quiet 
water lying near the bottom to rise after the 
food which is whirled around at the surface. 

Perhaps this is the time of y«ar that the 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 105 

uninitiated should try to understand, if possible, 
the activities ol' the fisherman. 

WOLVES TRAPPED BY A GOVERNMENT 
TRAPPER. 

Six Sheep Killers in Three Weeks, a Government 
Man's Catch. 

This clipping from tlie Kansas City Week- 
ly Star, published in October, 1923 shows that 
Mr. E. S. Clevenger is a good hunter and trap- 
per to catch coyotes in a thick settle(ment near 
Polo, Missouri. This is what the Star says: 

Polo, Missouri, October, 1923 — Six coyotes 
have been trapped here by E. S. Clevenger, 
government trapper, in the last three weeks. 
Assistance of the United States biological 
survey was obtained after Mr. James Elliott 
and his son, Boyd, had lost purel)red Shropshire 
sheep valued at $2W to coyotes and after the 
coyotes had gNDne into the barn lot in daylight 
at the home of Mr. Joe Hamlet and killed sheep 
and after Mr. A. L. Sanderson and others had 
quit trying, to grow sheep, 'because of loss to 
coyotes and with the results already obtained, 
many calls have been made for flhe trapper 
from other sections of the county. It is now: 
hoped to have Caldwell county, Missouri free 
frc^m coyotes by the end of the year. 

Mr. E. S. Clevenger, 

Exxcelsior Springs, Missouri. 
Dear Sir— 

From the reading of the above you will 
see that Mr. E. S. Clevenger knows his busi- 
ness about hunting and trapping for predatoiy 
animals. I know that you will be well pleased 
to hear and that you will be interested to 



J 06 ■THE sportsman's guide 

know that there has been much less damage 
from coyotes in this county since your work 
here. L. F. WAINSC.OIT, 

County Ext. Agent, Kingston, Missouri. 

After the reader has considered every 
statement in this book and methods, does there 
still linger in your mind the question "Can I 
afford to be wise?" In every case there are a 
number of things to be considered. If the 
truths told herein have iimpressed you with the 
seriousness of the coyote situation to the ex- 
tent that you no longer desire to "fool yourself" 
you will then grant that your earning power is 
being impaired in proportion to the growth of 
coyotes in your vicinity. 

Considering all this from a financial view, 
can you aftbrd to compare the small sacrifice of 
time and money. They are insidious and much 
damage is the ultimate price for delay. 

All of this would have been a noteworthy 
accQ|mplishment under any circumstances, but 
in the face of the opposition which I was once 
forced to overcome, it is more than remarkable. 
While I have' gone on and on, ignoring all at- 
tempts to discredit^ — keeping steadfastly at the 
work of spreading the message of complete ex- 
termination of coyotes and predatory animals, 
it seems -to me that the most important 
issue that sheep men now have to face is to 
consolidate the advances the sheep interests 
have made. The new sheep owners will need 
help in the management of their flocks. It is 
hoped that they will seek the advice of the 
tmore experienced men in their community to 
protect their flocks against prowling dogs and 
coyotes and wolves, instead of blundering along 
blindly. 

Be sure and put this book in the right 
man's hands, if you want your county free from 



THK SPORTSJlAN'S GUIDE 107 

wolves and coyotes. 

Wild animals are possessed witli natural 
wariness and cunning. The hungiy animal, the 
prowler, the animal that is just out for a lark, 
is always on his g-uard, always suspicious- 
nature provides it so. You can depend on any 
of these methods for real success. But by ap- 
pealing to the animal's passion, you have a 
different animal to deal with. His natural 
instincts are lost. He begins to act as he feels 
—becomes bold and carefree. He takes chances 
that in his natural condition he would not take. 
Passion in animals is uncontrollable. When 
you have the animal in this subnatural condi- 
tion you iiave him without his cunning and 
your hard work in trapping is done. 

A few words aV.wut the use of artificial 
bait sold by parties that say that they have 
the only bait. When you have the unrine of 
che animal that you want to catch, you only 
use for bait the urnie of that kind of an animal. 
There is no artificial bait made that is better 
than the urine of the animal itself to catch 
thje same kind of animal. All animals can tell 
the artificial frcmi the real and they can tell 
whether the animal is male or female, or 
wherever they smell of the urine before or not. 
Where the animal is a new comer or one that 
stays in the same neighborhod. Don't fool about 
this artificial bait to put out to lure all kinds trf 
wild animals to your traps. 

There is no better bait made to lieat the 
urine of a living animal to lure or put out 
for bait found on earth will stand the test 
by all sportsmen in the world. 

When you read this book you will learn that 
all artificial bait is made to sell, not to use for 
l)ait to lure wild animals to your trap. From 
now on as long as you live you will not forget that 
the urine of the living animal is the best bait 



108 THE sportsman's GUIDE 

on earth to cat*h wild animals. Common sense 
will tqach you better than to use artificial bait 
and always use the bait from the living animal 
or the urine of the same kind of animal you 
want to catch by using the urine of a female 
for bait or scent to lure all kinds of, wild 
animals to your trap of its own kind. 

The hunting and trapping is successful 
and after havhig trapped the cunning furbear- 
ang animals be cautious not to step on or get 
caught in the trap yourself. 

This book contains information that will 
enable any person, man or woman or boy or 
girl to 'become a successful hunter and trapper 
of all kinds of furbearing animals by using the 
best methods of the most expert hunters and 
trappers and with all the greatest of all animal 
luring that are of an exceedingly cunning and 
suspicious nature. These methods have been 
tested and tried by thousands who have found 
our suggestions and methods for hunting and 
trapping the principal kind of wild animals in 
North America and elsewhere are scientifically 
and experimentally correct. 

How to use the animal bait or scent or 
urine and destroy all human odor and leave 
the animal without fear and place the animal 
bait near the trap in such a way that the 
animal will have to cross the trap to get to the 
bait or urine. Do not put the bait on the 
trap itself, for the animal will poke its nose into 
the trap instead of its foot and that is all you 
have to do to be an expert in hunting and trap- 
ping all kinds of wild animals. 

If all persons would read this little book 
J aid go by its methods of catching all kinds of 
wild animals the United States would not have 
any trouble in raising a full meat supply for 
to feed the public and save $100,000,000,000 
each year. We are not giving in this guide 



THE sportsman's GUIDE 109 

much about how you can take care of the 
hides. All we are going to do is to tell you 
how to catch the wild animals. Taking care of 
the hides or fur is fully covered in other books. 
The Sportsman's Guide washes you and 
every lover of outdoor life the best of luck. 



110 ' irH» sfortsuan's gttidc 




THE 



portsiiiaii*5 



(3ul6e 



PHfCE $1 PER COPY, POSTPAID 



Agents Wanted ! 



In every county in the United States. For 
Liberal Terms to Agent address the Publishers 



THE MISSOURI KENNEL CLUB 
R. R. 2 Excelsior Springy, Missouri 



INDEX 

iPortrait of tihe Author Frontis 

Tntitodiuction ^ 

Guide to Hunting, Tiappin;g- and Fishing 6 

Poison , 31 

Hunting: Wild Animals 35 

To Trap Wolves and Coyotes 46 

How to Get Your Bait 52 

The Hawk 55 

Wolves and Coyotes 60 

The Fox 67 

The Bear 70 

The Cougar 72 

The Badg«r TH 

The Wolverine 74 

The Lynx 74 

The Beaver 76 

The Otter 78 

The Filler 80 

The Wildcat 81 

The K^ccoon 82 

How to Get a Coon Out of a Tree 85 

nrhe Mink 86 

The Muskrat 89 

How to Make a Wire Trap 91' 

The Possum 92 

The Porcupine 93 

The Mole and GopTier 94 

The Skunk 94 

The Civet Cat 96 

The Woodchuck or Groundhog- 98 

The Rabbit 98 

The Squirrel 99 

The Rat 99 

The Fish 100 

How to Cook Fish 101 

To Fry Fish Without Bones 101 

The Fisherman and His Ways 102 

Wolves Trapped by a Government Trapper. ,105 



THE MISSOURI KENNEL CLUB 

Breeder cf thorouf-ihbred hounds auu jls 
members are the best sportsmen on earth, who 
htand by each other through thick and thin 
and see that e;^ch member has equal rij^hts and 
a lair d-aal in the dog- question and one of the 
eldest organizations of hunting and fishing in 
Missouri. 

It is because we advertise and let others 
krfow of cur wcrk that we are aihle to accept 
every case from five to twentyfour years "live 
and let live" price. Further than this, our ad- 
vertising is a protection and insurance to you 
when you come to us for Foxhounds. Because 
cf advertising we are bound to live up to and 
fulfill every hound's claim and promise we 
make, not only in our advertising, but in the 
letters which we write you before you come to 
us, for services rendered will be satisfactory, 
just the same as is expected of any other bus- 
iness man. 

In recent years r.s a result of the efforts 
cf honest advertising men and the enlightened 
discrimination of tie public, the fake dog ad- 
vertiser, as well as dishonest "Pot Licker's 
Kennel" is rapidly being made an unprofitable 
proposition, to say the least. 

\Ye were the first to direct the attention 
of legislators to this subject by tiying to get 
an hcnest advertising law introduced in the 
Missouri legislature more than fifteen years ago. 

Today we have such laws and the reins of 
justice are rapidly being tightened on mislead- 
ing and deceptive advertisers, also on such 
newspapers and periodicals as were at one 
time willing to traffic on the misfortunes of the 
people Iby allowing such advertisers to buy 
space in the columns of their papers. 

The Missouri Honest Advertising law is 
practically the same law that has been adopted 
in recent years in thirtytwo states and is a 
•'model" of its kind. It is in reality what it 
purports to be, "an honest advertising and mer- 
chandizing law. " 

Honest competition is a benefit to business 
and we are glad to say that largely as a result 
cf the good work of the Associated Advertising 
clubs of the world and the active cooperation of 
government authorities, the way of these sel- 
lers of hunting and 'breeding frame catalogs 
and socalled "kome foxhounds, lion, cat, deer. 



wolf and coon varmint dogy and free trial otters 
are becoming- harder day by day to sell hounds 
on trial, money up. 

The public is also reading advertisements 
with more discrimination than ever before. The 
results, so far as we are concerned, is that the 
plain, unvarnished statement of facts that we 
are able to make in our advertisements are at- 
tracting each day the attention of a greater 
number of sportsmen who want to know "the 
truth aibout hounds." 

Any person who advertises and use the 
mail for to sell dogs that are not thoroughbred 
and not found to be as represented will be 
prosecuted to the full extent of the law and 
the editor of the paper in which the ad is run 
and all you have to do is to notify or report the 
fraud to the mail carrier and they will do the 
rest, or send for full information to the Mis- 
souri Kennel club who will give $25 reward for 
a conviction of a fake dog advertiser. 

Send all mail to the Missouri Kennel Club, 
Excelsior Springs, Missouri, 

Resolved That the wisdom and ability of 
E. S. Clevenger, which he has exercised in the 
aid of our organization ibiy his service, contri- 
butions, counsel in selling, buying, selecting 
and breeding of thoroughbred hounds from 
the best strain and blood of hounds found on 
record, will be held in gi-ateful remembrance by 
all sportsmen that believe in selhng, selecting, 
breeding and keeping of thoroughbred hounds 
not mixed with any other foired of dogs. 

Thoroughbred hounds for sale. They can 
not be put on record for the office of the 
Missouri Kennel club burnt down and all records 
and pedigrees of all the hounds of noted record 
were destroyed in the fire. 

Know AH Men by These Presents: 

That the Missouri Kennel club will solve 
and pledge severally , promise and agree not to 
breed or sell any only the best strain and 
blood of hounds that have ever lived in this 
world with a guaranteed proof by giving a 
pedigree of each hound, dam and sire, are from 
the best strain and blooded hounds that have 
ever been found on record in America or else- 
where and that we will warrant and defend 
the same against all men that dispute the ped- 
igree or the breed and lawful claims with de- 
mand of all persons whomsoever that this 
must be tiTA© of every hound now and forever. 
This guaranty embraces every cause of un- 
soundness and must have the best strain of 
blood from the best hounds in America that 
can be found without any blood of any other 



dog and if so the breeder will be held lesix^n- 
sible fcr all the defect in the hound or breed 
at the time of sale. 

This is the only safe and satisfactory 
way for a man to purchase a hound, for one 
who is a good judge of a hound or one who is 
not experienced in judging hounds. 

MISSOURI KENNEL CLUB. 
By E. S. Clevenger, Manager. 
Excelsjor Springs, Missouri, March 10, 192r) 

Know all Men by these Presents: 

Tliat the above named E. S. Clevenger, 
manager for the Missouri Kennel club, i>ersonal- 
ly appeared before me and made oath (or affirm- 
ed) that to the best of his ability, that the 
Ihounds that w^ill be sold by him will be thor- 
oughbred hounds and not mixed with any other 
breed of dogs and that the above and forego- 
ing written declaration by him subscritoed to, is 
the truth and nothing but the truth, so help 
me. God. 

Subscribed to before me this loth day of 
March, A. D. 192;-). 

T. E. CRA\\TF^ORD. 
iSEALt Notary Public. 

My term expires Januaiy 18, 1927. 

The Misssouri Kennel club, breeder of 
thoroughbred hounds has members who are 
tVe best sportsmen the world has ever known 
.• nd is older than any other organization of 
hunters and fishermen in Missouri. 

We as sportsmen must do all we can for 
to have and to save all wild animals and places 
to fish and hunt on and every member of the 
Missouri Kennel club must help and see that 
our sports, hounds and members be protected at 
all times and have equal rights in law. 

The membership fee is 50 cents. Write 
for free blanks so you can join, for we want 
every sportsman to join and have your hound 
protected from evildoers. 

Blanks for pedigree sell at 1 cent each. 

Standard bred hounds can be any kind of 
a dog of the same breed, but a thoroughbred 
hound cannot have nothing but speed and bot- 
tom to the end of the chase. 

In order to define what constitutes a stan- 
dard bred hound or dog, and to establish a 
breed of hound or dog, size, speed, shape and 
color on a more intelligent basis, the following 
j-ules were adopted by an incorporated organi- 
zation to control admission to the record of ped- 
igree of a certain kind of breed of hound. 
When a hound meets the requirements and 
rules of said organization of admission and is 
duly registered, it shall he accepted as a stan- 



1 



dard bred hound, but not a thoroughbred hour] 
How different is this from the old plan 
breeding hounds. Don't keep any more hounc| 
than you can properly feed. .Remember thj 
all hounds half fed and starving for something *, 
to eat are "potlickers." Don't ship a poor 
hound or raise hounds on halffeed. B-e sure to 
k-eep nothing btiit the Ibest strain and blood and 
then take good care of them is our motto. 

Thoroughbred hounds completed the list 
of blood whose ancestors were caused by in- 
breeding fourteen times and the fifteenth is 
thoroughbred, or until the blood becomes thor- 
oughbred and their descendants have proved 
their inheritance by running foxes in the fast- 
est time ever recorded in the annals of fox 
racing. 

Our scil and climate must be well adapted 
to raise long distance flyers or hounds. The 
American thoroughibred hounds have surpassed 
the fleetest trail hounds in the world in time 
test over a distance of ground. Their records 
stand out in bold relief, flaunting defiance t) 
the world, claiming superiority over the flyers 
cr hounds cf all nations for endurance and 
speed. ' 'Blood will tell" in the breeding and 
development of thoroughbred hounds, as is con- 
clusively shc\vn by the history of the origin 
of the different hound families or breeds. It 
is a fact beyond all dispute that nearly all 
hounds of any degree of speed and the games r 
to the end, trace back to some recognized 
strain of blood of a thoroughbred hound and 
while there may be exceptions, where no definite 
traces can be made, yet tha presumptions are 
that the endurance and vitality ca-me by in- 
heritance and not fcy chance, ^uch are the laws 
of heridity. This being the case, it is interest- 
ing to study the origin of the numerous hound 
breeds or strains of hounds and their branches 
in America and follow their record of increase 
and development with the skill from the results 
of man and the strain of blood the final devel- 
opment of thoroughbred hounds of America, 
unrivalled and unapproached in achievement in 
the fox race. 

The only kind of a hound to keep or sell 
is a thoroughbred. 

For Sale— Hound pups, weaned, for $5 each. 
Young iiounds, .$lu each and full grown hounds, 
$25 each, or according to the training. Thor- 
oughbred hounds can be trained to run any 
kind of wild animals. 

Address all mail to Missouri Kennel Club, 
Excelsior Springs. Missouri. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 903 975 8 ( 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 903 976 8 



HoUinger Corp. 



